Guarding Tess

PG-13

1994

1 hr. 36 min.

Comedy

Drama

TRAILER

for Guarding Tess: Trailer 1

List

57%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

47%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage), an agent with the Secret Service Uniformed Division, is assigned to protect former first lady Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine). Chesnic finds the job demeaning and a challenge because of Tess' high-maintenance personality and petty demands. He's desperate to get another assignment, but she insists that he remain head of her security detail, using her influence with the current president to get her way. When she's kidnapped, however, Chesnic's feelings change.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Nov 14

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Apple TV

Rent Guarding Tess on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Audience Member

Cage and McClaine are a dynamic duo but the film has such drastic tonal shifts it feels imbalanced. It should’ve been more of a quirky buddy comedy. So much of these quirky and dramatic scenes don’t mesh very well with each other.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/11/24

Full Review

ed w

***** cast & script, a roller coaster of smiles & tears

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/12/23

Full Review

mela k

Great acting, great story. Lots of movies that include a mystery aren't any fun to re-watch because we already know the answer, but I keep coming back to this one anyway. It's become one of my favorites.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

John R

SPOILERS This is such an odd movie. In terms of tone, it starts off as a situational comedy, morphs into a romantic (?) comedy and then becomes a crime thriller for about 15 minutes before taking on the tone of a sports movie right after they win the big game (with a hint of romantic comedy coming back in right at the end). It was extremely jarring to have the old lady kidnapped, and then a scene later have Nic Cage screaming in a hospital room that there's no time as he blows off the driver's toes one by one (the only moment in the film where Nic Cage truly shines in all of his brilliance). Then, for some reason, he isn't immediately removed from duty and gets to be the hero of digging his protectee out of the hole in the ground where she's been hidden. There's also the whole brain tumor thing. Like, way to bury the lead! And then never have it come up again. Just genuinely weird.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/16/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Not sure how I never saw this growing up but figured I'd get in a previously unseen Cage movie before hopefully seeing Unbearable Weight tonight. For most if the runtime this movie felt like the kind of standard, "safe", family style comedy I'd expect to see in the mid 90s with Cage playing his role pretty straight. Then about three quarters of the way through the film takes a hard right tonally, as Cage starts to give his character a little more flair, and of the sort only Nic Cage can. While likely never becoming a memorable film for me at this stage, the rating definitely improved with the final act. 5.5/10

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

With lockdown we rewatched this for about the 10th time. It's a funny movie and Shirley MacLaine is very good in it. It's subtle, it's not a blow things up Nick Cage action flick so don't expect lots of action.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Hugh Wilson

Director

Shirley MacLaine

Tess Carlisle

Nicolas Cage

Doug Chesnic

Austin Pendleton

Earl Fowler

Edward Albert

Barry Carlisle

James Rebhorn

Howard Schaeffer

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

95%

93%

Hundreds of Beavers

TRAILER

for Hundreds of Beavers

67%

29%

The Stranger

TRAILER

for The Stranger

50%

92%

The Stolen Valley

TRAILER

for The Stolen Valley

93%

95%

Dune: Part Two

TRAILER

for Dune: Part Two

71%

60%

Immaculate

TRAILER

for Immaculate

82%

75%

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

TRAILER

for In the Land of Saints and Sinners

69%

86%

Sweet Dreams

TRAILER

for Sweet Dreams

56%

84%

DogMan

TRAILER

for DogMan

%

40%

Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer

%

%

An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th

TRAILER

for An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Guarding Tess: Trailer 1

2:20

View more videos

View more photos

Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

There is an empathetic grace to Guarding Tess that’s timeless.

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 19, 2024

Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: B+

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Leonard Klady

Variety

The film is indeed likable. But director Hugh Wilson, who co-wrote the script with Peter Torokvei, just skims the surface of potentially rich territory.

Sep 19, 2008

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...an erratic yet rewarding star vehicle.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 31, 2019

Full Review

Malcolm Johnson

Hartford Courant

Maclaine's performance as Tess Carlisle, which shifts from polite witchiness to lonely, mildly boozy poignancy, adds up to the only real reason to see this potentially funny and revealing, but actually rather humdrum duodrama.

Jun 6, 2018

Full Review

Quentin Curtis

Independent on Sunday

Too often Guarding Tess feels like a sketch towards a movie.

Dec 8, 2017

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage), an agent with the Secret Service Uniformed Division, is assigned to protect former first lady Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine). Chesnic finds the job demeaning and a challenge because of Tess' high-maintenance personality and petty demands. He's desperate to get another assignment, but she insists that he remain head of her security detail, using her influence with the current president to get her way. When she's kidnapped, however, Chesnic's feelings change.

Director: Hugh Wilson
Production Co: TriStar Pictures
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $26.2M
Sound Mix: Surround

Most Popular at Home Now