The Cage Review: Gaurding Tess

I haven't gotten the opportunity to watch Ghost Rider just yet. These past couple of weeks and weekends have been just crazy. I'd watch it this weekend, but sorry Mr. Cage. Harry Potter trumps you. It's nothing personal. I'm just that kind of geek. So, thanks to Netflix and it's beautiful instant movie option, I watched Guarding Tess (1994). I'd heard of this movie many a time, but never really had the proper motivation for actually watching it. It's about a secret service agent named Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage) who gets the not-so-honor of guarding the ex-first lady, Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine), who just so happens to be...um...a bit overbearing. He longs for the action and importance of gaurding the big dog himself (Mr. President), but instead has become a glorified butler to a cranky older lady who used to be quite the political figure. Tess has somehow chosen Doug and become attached to him for reasons he has no idea of and requests his employment via the president himself much to Doug's annoyance.

I gotta say, I'm not a political movie fan. They are usually a big snore-fest for me because I'm not exactly savvy to the political realm. But this movie kind of threw me for a loop. I really enjoyed it. There were a few times when it moved a bit slower than I prefer, but it was all relevant to the story so wasn't really a problem. They fight and argue a lot which got me laughing. The guy who plays the president's voice made me laugh out loud more than once. Despite their frustration with each other, they find common ground. There wasn't a massively over sappy ending where they hugged and became BFF's but it was just the right amount of emotion played out beautifully by two really great actor/actresses. The ending (not revealed here) was just touching enough to not gag me and left me smiling. The relationship between the two was really interesting going from loathing to complete respect and devotion (non-romantic here folks). Mr. Cage...ya done me proud again, sir. It was no Con Air, but I can't give it lower than a four star rating on the Cage Star Chart. Four stars for sure. I'll be watching it again someday.