Two Cab Drivers Celebrate Debut in Indie Film “Love New York”

A full house packed into a private screening of the 2025 indie dark comedy “Love New York,” a reflection of the unique modern-day social and romantic interactions that take place in New York City.

As viewers attentively watched at the Irish Repertory Theatre in Chelsea, they were taken through the scenes of a painful first date with a social media influencer and into a relationship being unraveled by a political debate in Domino Park.

The film soon led to Tompkins Square Park— the scene that the audience had been waiting for. As the screen revealed two old friends sitting on a park bench, a round of cheering and applause set off in the audience.

The two men, John McDonagh and Seth Goldman, hosted the screening on March 25 to commemorate their debut into the film world. Bouts of laughter filled the theatre as their friends and family watched the two bicker over a couple kissing across from them.

“ This is a two-year adventure Seth and I have been on,” McDonagh said. Goldman and McDonagh have each spent over 35 years as yellow cab drivers. The two met filmmaker Anthony DiMieri, the director and producer of “Love New York,” at a diner. DiMieri says watching the two interact was magical, and he cast them in the roles in the fall of 2024.

McDonagh plays the cynic of the pair and complains to Goldman’s character about the very public display of affection in front of them. Goldman, however, counters his perspective and talks about the joys of young love. Their relationship adds some needed comic relief and a new layer of authenticity to the film.

“ It writes itself,” DiMieri said. “I didn’t really have to do much work.”

DiMieri, who wrote the script, mainly developed the scenes around his observations of the archetypes in New York City. “The story was inspired by lots of true stories,” he said.

The entirety of the plot takes place in a 24-hour time period. Each scene is introduced by movement as the film travels through several boroughs and neighborhoods. A new set of characters is built from the film’s ensemble cast, reflecting the different tropes of the city, ranging from the newer finance bros to the curmudgeonly old school native New Yorkers, as played by McDonagh and Goldman.

“Love New York,” which premiered in October of last year at the 2025 Downtown Film Festival, has since won best feature film at both the Bowery Film Festival and the New York Comedy Film Festival.

For several of the audience members, it was their second time seeing the film, including Ciarán O’Reilly, the founder and director of the Irish Rep. “It’s an impressionate’s view of what it’s like to live in New York,” he said. “It’s a mosaic.”

After the screening, Goldman, McDonagh, and Tim Sarmiento, a producer on the film, joined the stage for a Q&A moderated by O’Reilly. DiMieri, who was traveling back from Rome, also phoned in, aptly from the back of a yellow cab.

The five discussed the film as a whole as well as some of the individual scenes. O’Reilly expressed his admiration for one scene of the first date between a sugar baby and an older man simply looking for company. In the film, the man, played by Ezra Barnes, tells the woman he is on the board of the Museum of Modern Art after she reveals she is a painter. Barnes, who was in the crowd, stood up.

“ If anyone wants a free tour of the water lilies,” Barnes began jokingly. “Don’t ask me. I’m really not on the board.”

McDonagh and Goldman also addressed what acting in their first film was like. “35 years driving a yellow cab in New York City, I was an experienced actor,” Goldman joked.

Though this is the pair’s first film roles, it is not the only time they have been cast by DiMieri, who is also the co-founder of Melted Solids, the creative agency credited with helping elect Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In December 2024, they stepped into the limelight when they starred in an early campaign ad for Mamdani, a then-unknown mayoral candidate. Across social media and YouTube, the ad has garnered over 20 million views.

Since then, they have continued to star in the social media posts of the viral NYC content creators Kareem Rahma, who produces SubwayTakes, and Nicolas Heller, who produces the show Survival of the Fittest. The journey inspired McDonagh, who is also a playwright, to produce the one-man show “Taxi 2 TikTok,” which he debuted on March 28 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

After the Q&A, the audience was invited to celebrate at The Copper Still in Chelsea, where they packed out the bar area. Some of the group were relatives or met the two through the film. Others know them through their various pursuits, with Goldman being a writer and McDonagh a radio host and activist.

“This was all done by word of mouth,” McDonagh said of the event. It was one more vignette of the city.