This film has a wonderful blend of comedians inside, Janeane Garafalo, Margret Cho and Bobcat Golthwait. The mystery here is, this isn't REALLY a comedy. It is a fairly serious tale of a woman meeting a man for the first time. The trouble is the woman (Garafalo) is nuts. She takes him on a wild ride over the course of the evening turning him from hating her to loving her. In the end, no happy ending here. But a poignent look at why we say and do the things we do.

I love the crazy romance story between Jasmine and Arliss but the ending depresses me. Janeane plays her role brilliantly, adding both humor while showing the dark side to manic-depression. Definitely a movie that makes you think and challenges your outlook on things in this world.

Aleks Horvat's Janeane Garofalo vehicle, "Sweethearts", has a lot going for it--unfortunately, it still fails to be watchable from beginning to end. The basic plot is a typical high-concept Hollywood cliche--the date from hell. Nothing special there. However, there are sporadic elements of harsh reality in "Sweethearts" that simply aren't found in big budget junk like Blake Edward's "Blind Date" (1987). Garofalo's character isn't simply a cutesy nut, she's a suicidal woman with serious mental problems. Horvat's screenplay had some real potential--at least until he put himself in the director's chair. As a screenwriter, he set up a complex emotional situation, but as a director he is simply not up to the challenge. For the most part, the movie plods; and when it does move, it moves in fits and starts. This inability to edit and pace the action and story all but kills most of the laughs as well as potential moments of pain and pathos. Too much of what we see seems stiff and fake, like an amateur stageplay.Janeane Garofalo is terrific, however, in a part that seems to have been written for her (perhaps that's why she decided to help the production along by becoming an "executive producer" along with Horvats). Garofalo is one of the most "real" actors we have in the US, but her intensity, in both the light and dark sense, is constrained by the obvious inexperience of the director. In the hands of a more-assured filmmaker, we could have had Oscar material here instead of more filler for the Independent Film Channel.Since very few folks have ever seen this film (I found it on VHS in a cutout bin for $4) Horvat and Garofalo ought to just try the project again--with another director. This kind of story is difficult to do without pushing it into harmless farce, but it can be done (Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild" is a good example). They need an experienced filmmaker, preferably one who can work loosely, with lots of improvisation from the actors. This would help eliminate much of Horvat's strained, unnatural-sounding dialog. Some of the more unbelievable plot twists might be made to seem more believable as well. Think some one like Robert Altman or Mike Leigh.If a good improv director can't be found, Horvat and Garofalo will simply have to find someone to whip Mr. Horvat's script into shape. And then they will have to find a director skilled at doing more than pointing the camera and saying "speak my lines now". Janeane and her performance deserve that.

I liked this movie a lot. Janeane Garofalo proved once and for all that she deserves to be more than that cynical, jaded girl who delivers one or two sarcastic lines. She is a major talent. I found the story moving, even if it is a re-tread about two people leading lives of quiet desperation in an urban landscape, (a lot like "What Happened Was..."). It will surprise you, in a good way I think.