Kirpianuscus Maybe, the chemistry between Shirley McLaine and Nicholas Cage represents the lead virtue of this bitter comedy. And the good reason to see it as not the best but decent story about old age, solitude, eccentricity, duty, loyalty and friendship. Its end is really touching and a good revanche to few not reasonable holes. Short, a nice film. For actors more than the script.

HotToastyRag Everyone pays attention to former presidents, but what about former first ladies? Guarding Tess shows audiences what happens when the spouses leave the White House.Shirley MacLaine is a widowed former first lady, guarded for the rest of her life by the Secret Service. She gives her usual wonderfully gruff performance with touches of sensitivity and heart when it matters. She's just lovely. Nicolas Cage gives an equally brilliant performance as her main agent, frustrated by his boring assignment and Shirley's grouchy disposition.The two play off each other beautifully, and the audience is given an unusual but touching love-hate friendship to watch. Guarding Tess is a really fantastic movie, with great acting and a memorable theme, and it's really knowledgeable, too! Pretty much all the information I have about the Secret Service I learned from this movie.

sddavis63 Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine) is a former first lady of the United States, whose husband died while in office. Back home in Ohio, her secret service detail is headed by Special Agent Doug Chesnik (Nicolas Cage.) The movie basically traces the relationship between the two. I suspect that guarding a former first lady is not an especially exciting assignment for a secret service agent in the first place. Tess, however, is a nightmare for Chesnik. By turns rebellious toward and then dependent on her detail, she makes Chesnik's life miserable to the point at which he wants nothing more than a new assignment. Every time he tries to get transferred, though, Tess calls in favours from the new president and gets him re-assigned to her. It's the symbiotic relationship between the two that's interesting here.This is, on the whole, a surprisingly sad movie. Tess is isolated inside her home, rarely going out, and with little if any relationship with her children. Her son (played by Edward Albert) appears briefly in the movie, obviously looking not for a warm family visit with his mother but simply trying to get her to allow her name to be used to support a business deal he's involved in. Meanwhile, Chesnik is a more mysterious character about whom we learn little, except that he's a dedicated agent who had a brief and apparently troubled marriage in the past. The movie leads up to Tess's kidnapping and the search for her, which eventually leads to a heartwarming reunion between her and Chesnik, as both demonstrate their loyalty to one another. To be honest, this isn't a very exciting movie, perhaps making the point that such an assignment isn't the one that secret service agents aspire to. It's also not a bad movie. MacLaine and Cage both offered good performances, and that last twenty minutes or so after Tess's kidnapping is well done, leaving you with a pretty good taste in your mouth. (6/10)

whpratt1 Nicolas Cage, (Doug Chesnic) plays the role of a Secret Service Agent and is assigned to protecting a former First Lady, Tess Carlisle, (Shirley MacLaine) who is a very difficult First Lady to protect and is stubborn about who protects her and she simply does not like Doug Cbesnic but for some reason considers him like her son. Tess's son has nothing to do with his mother and Tess seems to take things out on her Secret Agent Doug, treating him like her son. No one seems to be able to please Tess and there are plenty of comedy and great chemistry that exists between Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine and this makes the film a great success. Enjoy.