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Every New Yorker has been in a cab at some point in their lives. Some have been memorable; many have been disgusting but for the most part a large portion of them have been forgettable the moment you step out of the cab and go on with your day. The cab ride is an unusual but quite intimate moment whether we like it or not. Trapped with a stranger we do not know, and unlike ride share apps have zero inclination of our driver before head much like they have no prejudgment of us as a passenger. But the moment we slide int the backseat everything changes, we judge the driver, the driver judges us and if we are just trying to get to our destination safely we pray the driver doesn’t speak to us. But then there are those days (and especially nights) where we feel talkative. Perhaps its liquor at play, or perhaps the day or whatever we are going through is too heavy for us to carry so we feel the need to unburden to a stranger. DADDIO, written directed and produced by Christy Hall, is a film about a cab ride we have all been too familiar with. The rides where we finally unload our souls to the driver and in return we get a mouthful of interesting often unsettling reactions but nonetheless share a profound moment with a total stranger for often no longer than a few minutes. DADDIO a film in real time follows an unnamed woman (Dakota Johnson) as she takes a cab from JFK airport back to her apartment on west 44^th Street between 9^th and 10^th. She is a New Yorker so the side street directions are a given. Her driver Clark (Sean Penn) is a man of great personality and upon discovering his passenger may carry some of the same outgoing traits a battle of the mind and heart and ensues in a captivating film that ebbs and flows much like the city traffic the two try to avoid. DADDIO doesn’t play fair nor should it as its two stars are confined to a small rundown vehicle discussing family, gender roles, social media, technology and of course sex, lots and lots of talk of sex. And while this may make any person hide in disgust at the sheer idea of discussing affairs with your cab driver Penn and Johnson bring great complexity to their characters that you believe nearly every moment of their discussions as they travel along what should and hopefully be a forty-five minute trip. But for anyone who has had a conversation with a cab driver or have driven the the streets of New York they know how to prepare for anything and adjust accordingly.

It isn’t hard to imagine that women probably do not want their cab drivers talking to them, but for Johnson’s character she seems unfazed by the foul mouth loud gum chewing driver at the helm of the wheel. Donning platinum blonde hair and only slightly gazing at her phone, the woman catches the attention of her driver Clark who notices early on that she doesn’t appear to be like most woman of her generation. Penn as Clark feels like the everyman cab driver in meaning that he is someone you probably don’t want to talk to, a man where every polite comment feels like a means to an end. But for this woman she takes the bait as they quickly enter a conversation of her job as a coder where she explains to him the world is divided simply into truths and false. Hall’s dialogue centric film may feel stage like at times, but thankfully her two performers of two very different generations keeps it believable especially when the woman engages in more vulgar discussion. It is not that she isn’t offput by Clark’s more sexual syntax (he constantly refers to her giving into sex as “offering her candy”) but the woman clearly appears as someone who herself knows that at the root of it all sex drives everyone. This includes herself as the two discuss what makes men and women tick sexually and why anyone chooses to have an affair. Penn a veteran actor has not been at the forefront of a major movie since 2008’s “Milk” (which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor), instead he has been seen in supporting roles, and one scene stealers (“Gangster Squad,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and “Licorice Pizza” respectively). But Penn has never lost his tough guy abrasive ways in his performances. He feels off putting on screen because he can with just a look tell you everything he is thinking. His performance as Clark does not just capture the image of what many see when they think intrusive cabbie, but also knows how to surprise reminding us that its both easy to judge but also people as complex as they can be rooted in basic ideologies.

For anyone who has ever taken the trip from JFK to Midtown they know that a one hundred minute real time movie stretches the non-traffic truth, but thankfully this is New York City and good luck getting anywhere quick especially when you need it most. Hall as a director and writer throws in a few typical New York City speed bumps along the way allowing for the conversation to linger but more importantly for the conversation to become more believable even as it enters dangerous territory. The title of the film doesn’t make it hard to connect the dots of where the woman’s insecurities may lie and having her stare art a reflective view of a man who very well could be her father’s age makes the subtlety anything but near. But this is New York after all and what subtlety ever existed here, a city where people openly speak their mind and leave it all on the table. Even the few things the woman refuses to tell the man (her age and name) it still feels like there is very little left to discuss as the film rolls towards its ending. But while some may find its more endearing moments as a surprise DADDIO does a great job at being less surprising and more comforting at how naturally most things play out. Outside of a few convenient moments of dialogue the film finds itself at a moment of true compassion and understanding even if (and thankfully) the film never suggests any more possible encounters between the two. For those that live in the city the community can feel small and you are bound to run into the same person again, but for DADDIO it’s a reminder that profound moments are few too many and sometimes a cab ride is just a cab ride.

B+

DADDIO HAD ITS NEW YORK PREMIERE AT THE 2024 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL. SONY PICTURES CLASSIC WILL RELEASE THE FILM IN SELECT THEATERS STARTING JUNE 28