Daddio (film)

Summarize Fact Check

Thirty-something Girlie, upon her JFK arrival, hails a taxi to her Manhattan apartment. She and her middle-aged cabbie Clark unexpectedly have honest dialogue on many subjects.

After a few minutes, Clark monologues about globalization worsening the world. What is considered valuable has changed, such as money: value has passed, from salt, to gold, to paper, to plastic, and now everything is virtual. The same is true with technology: taxis such as yellow cabs are becoming obsolete and exchanged for apps and eventually will phase out humans.

Girlie asks the cabbie his name, then Clark very decidedly describes her. He sees she is a New Yorker by how she carries herself and dresses, how she looks him in the eye fearlessly, saying her destination decidedly. Not fastening her seatbelt and turning off the touristy video upon entering also shows this.

After a dissatisfying message interaction with a male, Girly is drawn into conversation with Clark. She tells him about being from a small Oklahoma town, a nine-year New Yorker and programmer.

Clark is from the once-called Hell's Kitchen. The now gentrified area, more or less where she lives, was working class with drugs and prostitutes. Clark later moved to a house in Jackson Heights, Queens.

The taxi hits a traffic jam due to a car accident, so Girlie again checks her phone. The man has left her a string of comments. When Girlie tells him that her trip to Oklahoma was hard, he again switches to sexual innuendo, disgusting her with a dick pic.

As Clark asks about Girlie's Oklahoma trip, she gladly puts down the phone and tells him about her older half sister. Although Girlie calls her a bitch, they enjoyed their two-week visit. As children, her 11-years-older sister would torment her by tying her ankles and wrists so she would figure out how to escape.

Clark turns to give Girlie his full attention. He asks her age, which she refuses to reveal, reminding him women are treated differently once their age is known. Clark conceeds her point, then asks if she has a significant other. When Girlie is vague, he immediately concludes she is seeing a married man.

Girlie admits the man is married, Clark then insists she never say she loves him. At first, she does not admit it but then later concedes. Clark insists she made a big mistake, as her married man only wants sex and will never leave his wife, which she must accept.

Clark says men just want dumb women who give them dirty sex. Girlie insists all men are not like that. Clark concedes there might be some exceptions, but ultimately men strive to achieve as much as possible to increase status amongst men.

Asking how they met, Clark correctly deduces the man gave Girlie a card, so she made the first move. He suggests she cut him loose, as they have no future. Clark correctly guesses they have a daddy-daughter dynamic.

Clark asks Girlie what she knows about the man's family. She has never met any of them, but saw a photo of his wife, and he often shares photos and videos of his three kids. Clark is surprised, saying he has let her in more than usual, but no more.

Girlie describes when her sister and she left home. She was six and her sister 17. Their father, who had never touched her, shook Girlie's hand to say goodbye.

Girlie and Clark share their bucket lists. He later describes how he met his first wife and their relationship. Clark tells her it is her turn to tell a story.

At Girlie’s visit at her sister's, they drank constantly, then reminisced. This includes her being tied in the tub. Strangely, Girlie and her sister remember their departure differently, her sister contends their dad never shook Girlie’s hand.

Flying to Oklahoma right after discovering she was pregnant, upon landing Girlie immediately started bleeding. The miscarriage-period lasted the whole visit. At her sister's partner Eagle’s rain dance, Girlie quietly prayed to be cleaned. The next morning, the bleeding stopped.

Clark declares Girlie has ‘won’. After she quietly tips him $500, they have a teary goodbye, having connected deeply on the journey.

• Sean Penn as Clark
• Dakota Johnson as Girlie^[5]

The film was originally conceived as a stage play in New York City.^[3] In October 2017, it was announced that Daisy Ridley would star in the film, based on a spec script by Christy Hall.^[6] That December, the script was included on that year's "Black List" of the most-liked unproduced scripts in Hollywood.^[7] In June 2021, it was announced that Johnson had replaced Ridley and that Penn was also cast in the film.^[8][9] Johnson was the one to initially suggest Penn and personally sent him the script.^[10]

Principal photography occurred in New York City and in Jersey City, New Jersey, in December 2022.^[11] It was shot in 16 days.^[3] The film entered post-production in January 2023.^[12]

All scenes taking place within the cab were shot on a sound stage using on-set virtual production, consisting of large LED video screens on which digital environments were rendered. The actors performed in front of the screens in real time.^[10]

Daddio premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2023.^[13] It also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2023, as part of its special screening program.^[14][1] Later that month, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film for North and Latin America as well as some European and Asian territories, scheduling it for a theatrical release sometime in 2024.^[15] It was released in the United States and Canada on June 28, 2024.^[16][17][4]

Daddio was released in Germany June 27, and in Argentina June 28, 2024. The film was scheduled to be released in Russia and the CIS on July 11, 2024.^[4]

Box office

In the United States and Canada, the film made $424,091 from 628 theaters in its opening weekend.^[18]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 100 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "A ruminative chamber piece on wheels, Daddio feels expansive thanks to Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn's compelling rapport."^[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[20]

Peter DeBruge of Variety gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Every aspect of Daddio is designed to spark conversation. But it’s sweeter and more satisfying than you might expect..."^[21] Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review, calling it "A deftly executed debut feature."^[22] Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood also gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Sean Penn is at his absolute best here in a tremendously engaging performance as a salty working-class guy with an endless supply of opinions and ways of drawing out his passengers, while Dakota Johnson more than holds her own as a game passenger increasingly willing to share her problems with the amateur shrink behind the wheel."^[23]