Daddio
Christy Hall’s dialogue-driven detour lacks a destination.
Lost in transportation: Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn (in the driver’s seat)
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Born from memories of sneaking late night episodes of HBO’s Taxicab Confessions, playwright Christy Hall penned the script that marks her feature debut as a writer/director nearly a decade ago. Back in 2017, Daddio landed third on the infamous Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood’s most-liked, yet unproduced, screenplays. Since then, Hall’s profile has been rapidly on the rise. This summer her adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling romance novel phenom It Ends with Us hits cinemas. Directed by (and starring) Justin Baldoni, it’s a story of chance encounters — something both films have in common.
In the city that never sleeps, a woman (Dakota Johnson) known only in the credits as Girlie hails a nighttime cab at JFK and heads to her Hell’s Kitchen apartment on 44th between 9th and 10th. “If hell really did have a kitchen, that would be it,” comments Clark (Sean Penn), the gruff no-nonsense cabbie at the wheel. The yellow cab, once as primary as the subway, is on the decline in the age of rideshare apps. Along with it, the confidential relationship that often forms between driver and passenger. “Yellow cabs are like Blockbuster,” he notes. It’s the beginning of a sometimes strange and often deeply personal conversation that would leave most passengers feeling a little wary. But this is New York, and these kind of random talks tend to happen from time to time. As the pair get to know each other, road construction extends the ride into a true New Yorker’s nightmare, forcing the conversation to continue.
Like Collateral, Drive, Locke, and Baby Driver before it, the film largely takes place inside a car. Unlike all of those films, this ride’s narrative largely runs on fumes. Even the fear of a high fare is removed by NYC’s flat rate for airport trips. In one sense, it’s a unicorn of a movie and something of a feat – a single location two-hander that’s essentially one long dialogue scene between a man and a woman with no personal or romantic connection. On the other hand, it’s about as entertaining as a cab ride can be. As the film plays out in real time, the story nods to the roles we fulfill in life and those we sometimes take on in love, but there’s not much else happening under the hood.
Though Hall’s intention may have always been to make a film, the dialogue can’t seem to escape a certain theatricality, never quite breaking away from the page. As earnest and connected as Johnson and Penn are, there isn’t much of an arc for these strangers in the night or their 90min conversation. While it’s always a joy to watch actors think, there still needs to be something at play to shift the narrative gears. It’s hard to enjoy the ride when there isn’t much of a destination ahead. Girlie and Clark seem to have found the ride a deeply transformative journey, but audiences may ask to be dropped off at the next corner.
CHAD KENNERK
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sean Penn.
Dir Christy Hall, Pro Ro Donnelly, Terry Dougas, Christy Hall, Dakota Johnson, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Screenplay Christy Hall, Ph Phedon Papamichael, Pro Des Kristi Zea, Ed Lisa Zeno Churgin, Music Dickon Hinchliffe, Costumes Mirren Gordon-Crozier.
Projected Picture Works/Rhea Films/TeaTime Pictures-Sony Pictures Classics.
100 mins. USA. 2023. US Rel: 28 June 2024. Cert. R.
