‘Daddio’ Review – Dakota Johnson And Sean Penn Connect In Two-Handed Drama

The art of talking to strangers is increasingly fleeting in our modern times. The rise of technology keeps us locked into our phones and laptops even when traveling or being out in public. It’s hard enough to hang up and hang out when we are with people we cherish, let alone strangers on a train or the person driving our taxi. Writer-director Christy Hall’s debut feature film Daddio addresses this terrible thing happening in Western culture through the lens of a taxi driver (Sean Penn) and his passenger (Dakota Johnson) on a long ride from JFK Airport to Manhattan. Taking place almost entirely in the taxi cab, Penn and Johnson go back and forth trading stories from their lives, gradually getting deeper and more vulnerable as the trip goes along.

The biggest thing going for this film is its two stars. Daddio is the definition of a two-hander, with only one other character speaking at all during the whole movie. Dakota Johnson bounces back from a rough go in Madame Web and delivers a solid performance here, showing a level of emotion and depth that hasn’t been seen in her last several productions. A lot of the narrative tension revolves around her as she is periodically texting back and forth with the man she is seeing. We never fully see him, but he plays a big role in her mood and attitude throughout the film. The texts are highly sensual and suggestive in nature, to say the least, and Johnson’s facial acting does a great job of keeping the audience in the dark as to whether these comments are welcome or worrisome. 

While Johnson’s performance is good, Sean Penn’s is outstanding. From the moment he rolls up in his cab, he steals the show outright. His take on the lifelong New Yorker who has seemingly been driving for a living since he got his license is incredibly grounding and rooted in realism. This is the type of person you could actually meet out in the world, not some idealistic character that has no real sense of reality. At first he comes off as a classic elder millennial complaining about the way things used to be, including a stupefying monologue on the evolution of currency, but soon comes around to showing his true colors.

He engages Johnson almost immediately, asking her the typical small talk questions you might receive when hopping in an Uber or car service. He senses that she may be looking for more than small talk and continues to dig throughout the night, both learning and revealing many things in their conversation. This character is representative of the people who have never met a stranger and always want others to be included and contain unfathomable levels of empathy. 

The obvious comparison that people will draw to this film is Locke starring Tom Hardy as a man making dozens of phone calls in the car on a long drive. Oddly enough, his solo take is much more potent and dynamic than this duo. Sometimes less is more, as they say. Despite the great performances, the rest of Daddio doesn’t have much else to offer. The visuals and score are rather bland and straightforward, with nothing helping to elevate this to another level. The acting is certainly there, but there is still something missing throughout the entire film that makes the emotional beats feel more like a playful bump than a typical gut punch. In theory, this should be a powerful story about the connection between strangers but it ultimately falls flat in execution. Occasionally performances can make you forget about a picture’s flaws, but not even the power of Penn can save an undercooked story. 

Daddio will debut in theaters on June 28, 2024, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.