How Long Is “Sweethearts”?

A young man responds to a personal ad and agrees to go on a blind date in a local coffee shop without suspecting that he is about to embark upon a hellish night-long ordeal. In a dramatic change from the wiseacre comic and romantic roles she has become known for, actress Janeane Garofalo plays Jasmine, the young woman whose apparent loneliness is but a mask for deeper and much darker problems. Set almost entirely in the coffee shop and centering on the dramatic conversations between the distraught Jasmine and her date Arliss (Mitch Rouse) and a couple of employees, the drama has the feel of a filmed play. The seriousness and tragedy inherent in the story is occasionally leavened with flashes of sharp humor.