Penn and Johnson are Laser Perfect in Daddio

How many times have you hopped in a cab, Uber or Lyft and found yourself in a conversation with the driver revealing details you wouldn’t share with your closest of friends? Better yet, how shocked are we when the openness is reciprocated with no strings attached?

Directed and written by Christy Hall, Daddio feels more like a two person play than a feature film due to the intimacy between Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. Yet, it is a powerful message for women on recognizing their and not having it diminished through a relationship.

Daddio celebrates the power found in those rare moments of pure human connection. This highly contained, yet kinetic character-study explores complexities inherent to secrets we keep, particularly the ones locked away on our phones. This is a film about truth and illusion, how we effortlessly substitute one for the other out of survival, hurtful memories of childhood, how past trauma can manifest itself in the most profound ways, the dance between the pain and poetry that culminates in the human experience.

Who holds more power – men or women? Men attempt to control women through promises most never intend to keep and women attempt control with the promised enticement through their bodies or sexual favors. At least this is what our characters would have you believe. Penn and Johnson embrace all the complexity of straddling the humor, drama and vulnerability with laser specificity keeping audiences engaged in the most fascinating cab ride ever.

This film journey doesn’t go where you think it is going at the start, but provides a welcomed surprise lesson of how looking like a family man is more important than being as very raw information including divorce, abuse and abandonment are revealed. It also reveals no matter how much strength and tenacity both genders pretend to exude, at our core secrets and insecurities can either empower us or bring us to our knees.

Daddio is a must see to witness two of the most underrated performances of 2024.