DADDIO Review: An Acting Showcase For Dakota Johnson And Sean Penn With Surprising Depth

Introduction

Christy Hall’s Daddio is two tropes in one film. On the one hand, you have the single-location, two-hander talk-heavy character study, but you also have the events-happening-in-real-time schtick. Without relying on tricks or clichés, and instead trusting the powerhouse performances of Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn, Hall crafts a winning formula.

Synopsis

Johnson stars as an unnamed passenger who arrives home in New York City from the airport. Going home to Manhattan, she takes a cab driven by longtime cabbie Clark (Penn). On the drive home, including a prolonged wait for an accident to clear, Clark and the woman talk about life, love, sexual dynamics, and more, all while keeping a running count of overly vulnerable stories shared with the other.

Plot-wise, that’s it. The opening few minutes and the final few are the only one spent outside the cab. Otherwise, it’s Johnson in the back and Penn in the driver’s seat.

Themes

This is a film about trust, in more ways than just how the two characters interact. Hall, in her feature directorial debut, trusts her script and direction will captivate the audience despite the lack of narrative variety. Johnson and Penn both trust Hall enough not to overwhelm the film by jockeying for star power on-screen. It’s a symbiotic relationship that allows the film to flourish.

The film knows what it has in Johnson and Penn. There was a level of trepidation when Penn’s character begins espousing his views on male infidelity in relatively archaic terms (mostly due to Penn’s off-screen persona), but Johnson (also a producer on the film) doesn’t give an inch.

Clark is a man of clear beliefs, regardless of how Cro-Magnon they are. His perspective might not be the most feminist, but he sticks by them. At the same time, Johnson’s character doesn’t let him slide in his arrogance/ignorance. It’s also not a battle of wills. No character is attempting to get the upper hand. There is no benefit for either.

Johnson and Penn

And that’s where the film excels. There are no stakes and no repercussions. These two people are strangers, which allows each to be expressly vulnerable in a way they wouldn’t be otherwise. Penn specifically reaches untapped levels of sweetness when recounting a story of a prank pulled on him by his ex-wife.

He’s still the same guy who was talking about women being viewed as sexual objects, but he still manages that level of sensitivity when he relaxes. Even after 40+ years of on-screen experience, the veteran actor can still surprise.

Johnson excels when she is keeping things quietly under control, especially when there is good reason to burst. Her unnamed character has a lot going on, which we find out by the end of the film, but she picks and chooses what to tell her driver. Johnson does all of this with a register just above a controlled whisper. That’s not to say she is overwhelmed. She is a force of personality despite her seeming lack of command.

Hall doesn’t overcomplicate things by introducing too much artificial action. The events play out with relative ease and understanding. There might be lasting feelings about their own lives following the cab ride, but this is just a small slice of life for each of these characters. If you’re expecting car crashes, high-speed chases, or backseat rendezvous, look elsewhere.

Summary

Daddio is an assured directorial debut from Christy Hall and features some of the best acting duos in Johnson and Penn. Don’t expect it to set the world on fire, but you can be pleasantly surprised by how effectively it works.

Read more Cinema Scholars reviews!

THE BIKERIDERS: A Review Of Jeff Nichols’ Nostalgic Drama

INSIDE OUT 2 Review: Deep Breaths

Keep up with Cinema Scholars on social media. Like us on Facebook, subscribe on YouTube, and follow us on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.