GUARDING TESS
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Shirley MacLaine. Screenplay: Hugh Wilson and Peter Torokvei. Director: Hugh Wilson.
I mean no condescension when I say that GUARDING TESS is the kind of movie that my grandparents would love. They see about a movie per year, if that, and when they do choose to plunk down their $7.00 a piece they tend to opt for something light and frothy, usually one of those comedies featuring two decent but strong-willed characters who spar but obviously care about each other. These films are always good for a few smiles, and are generally inoffensive. Intellectually, I understand the appeal of such once- in-a-blue-moon-night-on-the-town entertainments, and some of them do give the character interaction zing. GUARDING TESS isn't one of them. It's just two pleasant, well-acted characters with nothing to do.
GUARDING TESS has been the assignment for the past three years for Secret Service agent Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage). Tess is Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine), an irrascible widowed former First Lady, beloved by the public but held in a slightly different regard by those close to her. Doug has just completed his three years, much to his delight, when he is informed that Tess has personally asked the President to keep Doug on the detail. It is with reluctance that Doug returns to guard Tess, and the two find themselves perpetually at odds as Doug insists on doing everything by the book. When tensions boil over, both become aware of an underlying respect that grows into an unlikely friendship.
GUARDING TESS owes every ounce of charm it displays to the very engaging lead performances of Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine. Cage often seems to have only two gears on screen--frantic and manic--but here he des a surprisingly restrained turn as the frustrated agent. He is appropriately humorless about a job Doug takes very seriously, yet he doesn't go for wooden. MacLaine, who seems to get every role in Hollywood written for a woman over 50, has mastered the flinty dame bit by now, while always managing to leave a bit of softness around the edges. Tess is not a particular stretch for MacLaine, but she never mails in a performance. The interaction between Doug and Tess in the film's first half hour is amusing in a low-key way, never degenerating into over-the-top theatrics. At almost every stage the relationship seems completely natural, and that relationship makes for some entertaining scenes.
What torpedoes GUARDING TESS is the sense that director and co-writer Hugh Wilson didn't really know what to do with these two characters. Wilson's most notable previous contribution to film has been the POLICE ACADEMY series, but he did create the popular TV sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" and the critically acclaimed but short-lived "Frank's Place." Since Wilson's greatest success has come on the small screen, it should come as no surprise that GUARDING TESS feels a lot like a pilot for a series. The characters are established, but the plot is nearly non-existent. Very quickly, GUARDING TESS begins to repeat itself, with too many redundant scenes of Doug and Tess butting heads, Tess winning and Doug fuming. It's a film that just floats around like a hovercraft on a layer of niceness.
Then, when Wilson finally seems to realize the need for a second plot point, he creates an utterly ridiculous subplot involving a kidnapping. I have this feeling the conclusion we see was not his first choice. There is a silly red herring involving Tess's son which I suspect was not a red herring in some earlier incarnation, because the revelation of who the kidnappers are inspires a big "what?" I also believe Wilson might have considered a slightly darker resolution, but was concerned about ruining all the good will he had worked so hard to generate. The result is just grossly out of touch with the rest of the movie anyway.
Fluffy and inconsequential doesn't have to mean tedious. GUARDING TESS might make a fine bargain matinee for someone seeking a chuckle or two. At least that's what I'd tell my grandparents.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Secret Service agents: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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