A sharp odd-couple comedy-drama with strong lead chemistry and a surprisingly sturdy emotional core, but it loses some of its balance when it pivots into a more conventional thriller ending.
Guarding Tess
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Comedy · Drama
Fri · 1h 36m
Director: Hugh Wilson
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Nicolas Cage, Austin Pendleton
Overview
Doug is a Secret Service Agent who has just completed his stint in charge protecting Tess Carlisle—the widow of a former U.S. President, and a close personal friend of the current President. He finds that she has requested that he not be rotated but instead return to be her permanent detail. Doug is crushed, and—after returning—wants off her detail as she is very difficult to guard and makes her detail crazy with her whims and demands.
Director
Hugh Wilson
Cast
Shirley MacLaine, Nicolas Cage, Austin Pendleton
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp odd-couple comedy-drama with strong lead chemistry and a surprisingly sturdy emotional core, but it loses some of its balance when it pivots into a more conventional thriller ending.
Best for
fans of 90s star-driven comedies with a dramatic edge
viewers who like prickly mentor/foil dynamics
people interested in Nicolas Cage in an unusually restrained mode
audiences who enjoy political-adjacent workplace satire
Skip if
you want a consistently breezy comedy
you dislike tonal shifts into action or suspense
you need a tightly plotted thriller
you prefer broad, joke-heavy studio comedies
Overview
Guarding Tess is better and stranger than its premise suggests. What starts as a grumpy workplace comedy between a Secret Service agent and a demanding former First Lady gradually reveals itself as a character piece built on irritation, loyalty, and mutual dependence. Shirley MacLaine and Nicolas Cage do most of the heavy lifting, and the movie is smart enough to let their friction carry the early scenes.
Worth noting
The film’s appeal is in the performance duel: MacLaine is imperious without becoming a caricature, while Cage plays guarded professionalism with just enough vulnerability to make the role feel fresh. The humor is dry and often rooted in exasperation rather than punchlines, which gives the movie a slightly offbeat, adult 90s flavor.
Bottom line
Its biggest weakness is structural. Once the story leans harder into action and danger, it becomes less distinctive and a little more generic. Even so, the tonal wobble doesn’t erase the charm of the central relationship, which is the reason to watch it in the first place.
Top Letterboxd reviews
matt lynch (3.5★) · 199 likes
This escaped me until just now simply because I assumed it was just a goof, you know, she's mean he's uptight they make friends blah blah. But it's, like...a real movie that allows these two terrific lead performers to do all the character lifting and then layers on increasingly complicated (even outlandish) scenarios for those characters to react to. It's vaguely Shakespearean, an all-caps DRAMA. Fascinating.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 160 likes
STARRING: NIC FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKIIIIIIING!!!!! CAGE (THE COPPOLA SAGA) Lowkey fun 90s comedy featuring stern, weary Cage’s secret agent, whose hopes of moving to greener grass in Washington get truncated by his boss, the first lady, greatly played by Shirley MacLaine, who seems to enjoy making the living hell of him and the rest of his team. Again, the dynamic between Cage and MacLaine is really great, despite a long part of the second half being him on a funny (wo)manhunt. The… more
theo (3★) · 112 likes
that’s the second time nicolas cage has found a national treasure
Sam (3★) · 109 likes
Cage and MacLaine have such a charisma of sorts between them in which every scene is so incredibly entertaining and annoying af the same time. The more absurd scenarios happening throughout the film between the two get funnier and funnier each time and I honestly would pay money to see more of these two acting against each other. What let’s it down is the third act which totally changes this film from a comedy to an action flick but even… more
DreamScape40 (4★) · 84 likes
Comfort movie.Needed a Nic Cage and Shirley MacLaine dosage.These two are incredible together! 👜👔
A 90s political-thriller companion piece with institutional intrigue and procedural tension.
Themes
odd-couple relationships, duty versus personal ambition, political service and protocol, class friction, loneliness and companionship, workplace frustration, loyalty, late-life reinvention
Topics
90s comedy-drama, political satire, character-driven, odd-couple, workplace friction, witty dialogue, star chemistry, light thriller elements, adult comedy, Washington D.C.