Word: chesnic
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Secret Service agents are inherently funny. This fact is the saving grace of "Guarding Tess." The basic premise is mindlessly simple: Special Agent Doug Chesnic (Nicholas Cage) guards eccentric former First Lady Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine). Doug dreams of someday being in the line of fire, but dutifully performs "the worst job in the Secret Service" because the President wants...
...then how else could the main characters learn to appreciate one another for who they really are? The kidnapping makes Special Agent Chesnic realize how much Tess means to him; he also finally gets to fulfill his active agent fantasies. She then realizes that she genuinely likes him, and not only because she can order him around. By the end of the movie, they have both overcome many of their prejudices and grown as individuals...
...trite as the plot is, the main characters rescue it from oblivion. The trenchcoat-and-sunglass-clad, play-it-by-the-book Doug Chesnic is perfect contrast to the odd but kind Tess Carlisle. Several political references also spice up the dull script. Some are to past administrations, like when Tess says that all Agnew and Johnson ever did was play golf: "If was a blessing for the country." Others allude to Bill and Hillary. When Tess watches old news clips about her husband, the audience learns her Clinton-like history relatively painlessly. Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle met at Denison...
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