Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I saw the character of whom the mother of someone who I call mother in the upper half of this movie and after she's got rescued. %I saw the character of whom the mother of someone who I call mother in the upper half of this movie and after she's got rescued. I saw the character of whom the mother of someone who I call mother in the upper half of this movie and after she's got rescued. I saw the character of whom the mother of someone who I call mother in the upper half of this movie and after she's got rescued.%

Guarding Tess is a pretty weak film overall despite it's A list cast. Even though good actors like Shirley MacLaine and Nicholas Cage drive the movie, it still falls flat because of its weak storyline and weak script. The acting is alright, Cage does a fair job with his role, I've seen better from him, but it's definitely not his worst. Shirley MacLaine is actually fairly good in her starring role, has the persona/attitude down pretty well. The storyline and script is what fails with this film. The storyline just simply doesn't live up to great comedy or being in the least bit entertaining. And if a the lackluster plot isn't enough to make this one fail all together, it's the poorly written script, the very weak dialogue between the characters throughout the film. The script is supposed to be funny, to provide amusing lines and situations where the audience would at least get a chuckle out of what's happening on screen, but we as the audience never really get that. It's a shame too, because I think this film had some real potential, but it ultimately is just a very forgettable movie. Even A-list Hollywood actors sometimes can't save a movie like this..... Guarding Tess gets a 3 out of 10.

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)

A very run-of-the-mill picture but not without charm. An odd-couple movie with the concept twist of high office this film sits somewhere in the orbit of Driving Miss Daisy and The Bodyguard. Nicholas Cage's Doug Chesnic is aghast to discover that his stint of personal duty towards the former first Lady is being extended indefinitely. Shirley Maclaine can see that this is a thin idea and really works the slow-burn heart of the film only softening her stubborn, lonely widower by increments. There is no attempt made to really work the issue of duty vs individual need - of statutory vs sentimental guardianship - but the film makes its point elegantly enough. 4/10