“Daddio” chronicles a cab ride from JFK airport in Queens to 44th Street between 9th and 10th avenues in Manhattan; it’s a 17-mile journey. Under normal circumstances, there’s hardly enough time to plot an entire movie. But this is New York City, so even if there were absolutely no traffic, construction, or accidents along the way, you’d still be able to get through the first two acts.
Writer-director Christy Hall throws a major accident into the mix, buying us 100 minutes to spend with veteran cabbie Clark (Sean Penn) and his last passenger of the night, the unnamed bleach-blond computer programmer credited as Girlie (Dakota Johnson). “Daddio” is a two-hander that takes place entirely in Clark’s Yellow Cab, which not even veteran cinematographer Phedon Papamichael can make visually interesting.
Instead, Papamichael and Hall focus on the faces of the actors as they tell each other stories and hard truths about their lives. She’s having an affair with a married man; he’s a twice-married man who has had numerous affairs. Like Girlie’s affair partner, Clark is old enough to be her father. He leads much of the conversation, asking her increasingly personal questions.
Advertisement
Girlie gives as good as she gets, interrogating him back. The duo keep score whenever one believes they’ve earned a point in the back-and-forth.
This idea of cab ride-as-therapy-session isn’t new. I thought about Harry Chapin’s 1972 folk ballad “Taxi,” where the last fare of the cabbie’s night involved driving a lady home and discussing the past.
An even better example would be the addictive former HBO series “Taxicab Confessions,” where people hopped in a cab and were grilled by the driver. Since the passengers figured they’d never see this person again, they were quite open about whatever scandalous deeds they were up to and where they had been.
(Once in Las Vegas, I got into the “Taxicab Confessions” cab. I even had a confession to spill. But, as Clark says to Girlie, “that’s a story for another taxi ride.”)
Hall isn’t hiding her influences. Casting an intense actor like Penn as a taxi driver stirs the fear he might be as unhinged as, say, Travis Bickle. There’s even a line about rain washing away undesirables — a direct homage to “Taxi Driver.” Johnson initially looks more vulnerable than she is, adding to our unease that something bad may happen to her.
Advertisement
Thankfully, “Daddio” is a far gentler movie than we’re originally led to believe. It’s all talk, no action, unless you count the explicit photo Girlie’s boyfriend sends to her phone.
A talky movie like this one succeeds only if its leads have chemistry and understand their characters. Both actors fit the bill, giving committed performances that elevate the material. Penn is gruff and profane, yet also sincere, making Clark’s desire to connect believable. He’s an observer of human nature who knows he has a worthwhile subject.
Johnson, who is also one of the producers, matches Penn’s intensity. As Clark hits nerves about her “daddy issues” and offers the male perspective on affairs, Johnson never lets Girlie lose her cool. She counters his points with a keen self-awareness of her situation. It’s an evenly matched battle, with two actors at the top of their game.
But at the end of the day, this is still two people in a cab for 100 minutes.
“Daddio” was originally considered as a stage play, and it would have worked better as one. And had it been a radio play, I believe it would have been even more stunning to listen to as you imagined these characters in your mind.
★★★
DADDIO
Written and directed by Christy Hall. Starring Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson. At AMC Boston Common, Dedham Community Theatre. 100 minutes. R (oodles of profanity, male frontal nudity)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.