Girl Gone Wild:
the Janeane Garofalo
Story
Girl gone wild: the Janeane Garofalo story
P.O. Box 11242
Richmond, VA 23230
United States
webmaste
Sweethearts
Sweetheart Deal Inc., 1996
Directed by Aleks Horvat
Starring Janeane Garofalo, Mitch Rouse, Margaret Cho, Bobcat Goldthwait and Van Quattro
Made in 1996 but only recently released on home video, Sweethearts stars a smartly typecast Janeane Garofalo as a suicidally depressed, bipolar woman who vows to commit suicide on her 31st birthday, and takes a hapless blind date (Mitch Rouse) along for the ride. Tapping into the same deep vein of urban loneliness and paranoia that fueled Martin Scorsese's After Hours, Sweethearts is less a comedy or drama than a pitch-black fable about the limits of compassion and empathy. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Sweethearts boasts the finest and most multi-dimensional performance of Garofalo's career. Freed from the predictable romantic-comedy strictures that undermined her work in The Truth About Cats And Dogs and Matchmaker, Sweethearts finally affords Garofalo the opportunity to play a character who's not a sass-talking best friend or an ugly duckling in need of a charming man to find the beauty deep within her, but a fully formed character who defies easy categorization. The most compelling thing about Garofalo has always been her willingness to make audiences uncomfortable, and Sweethearts exploits that virtue for all it's worth. At once enormously likable and disturbingly self-obsessed and fatalistic, Garofalo's character here desperately defies audience expectations. The film flirts with romantic-comedy conventions, but thankfully avoids the obligatory pat ending in favor of something darker and more true-to-life. Rouse is a bit bland as Garofalo's potential suitor but, that small quibble aside, Sweethearts is a smart, surprisingly original sleeper that deserves to find an audience on home video.
Answers.com
A man finds himself wondering just what he wants from a relationship after his personal ad gets a very unexpected response in Sweethearts. Arliss (Mitch Rouse) is a single guy in his early 30's who has placed a personal ad, hoping to find the woman of his dreams. One night Arliss heads to a coffee shop called The Asylum to meet a woman named Jasmine who has answered his ad. He's been told to expect a slender blonde woman in sandals and a flowered dress, and isn't sure what to think when an idiosyncratically attractive brunette dressed in black (played by Janeane Garofalo) begins badgering him with questions about himself, his "ideal" woman and what he's looking for from life. After a while, Arliss is convinced he's been stood up, until he discovers the woman who's been pestering him for the last hour is actually Jasmine. She tells Arliss she liked the sound of his voice and fudged on personal details about herself, convinced if he knew the truth about her, he wouldn't be interested. She also lets him know she wants someone to help her celebrate her birthday -- and she has a gun. However, what becomes disturbingly clear is that she doesn't intend to use the gun on Arliss, but on herself. Stephen Malkmus of the alternative rock band Pavement makes a cameo appearance as a singer at the coffeehouse; songs by Joe Henry and Alejandro Escovedo are featured on the soundtrack.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Buy "I'm the One that I Want" by Margaret Cho from eMusic.com
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"Beaten by the police" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Gall bladder" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Johnny Depp and the electric razor ad" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"I love dick" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Fabio and the suicidal goose" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"If you're ever on a talk show, don't set it on fire" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Hunters are gay" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Star Wars fans are uber-nerds" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Salt and pepper nutsack" by Bobcat Goldthwait
"Mascot suicide and orgasm impressions" by Bobcat Goldthwait
Time Out Film Guide
Janeane Garofalo may have no more than a cult following here, but it's growing fast. She's the best reason to check out this near-miss, a black sex war comedy about a blind date which proves that love isn't (blind, that is). Waiting for his dream girl to walk in, Arliss (Rouse) is buttonholed by the unfashionably forthright Jasmine (Garofalo). He's looking for slender and attractive; she's up for stimulating conversation - as long as he's doing the listening. This rather static piece, written, directed and produced by Aleks Horvat, is pretty funny for a while, but loses credibility when it tries for something wilder. It's refreshing to see a woman on screen who can string whole paragraphs together; a pity she has to be a bipolar manic depressive.
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Girl gone wild: the Janeane Garofalo story
P.O. Box 11242
Richmond, VA 23230
United States
webmaste
