Source: Wikipedia

A Comedy Beyond the Call of Duty 

So like 10 years later after actually seeing the film I am actually going to sit down and write a review for it. 

Hooray for 300 movie reviews and hell I've seen even more than that but it was only a few years ago that I actually decided to start reviewing things BUT I DIGRESS. I chose this as my 300th movie review for a very specific reason! I had the DVD for 523 days without even taking out of the wrapper, after awhile it just became a thing to see how long I could keep it in the wrapper. I'm sure some of you remember the topic I made about that!

I am aware that there are spoiler tags to cover up spoilers but I chose not to use them, I just made the text white, I didn't like the way they messed up with the look of the review. Hope thats alright! 

Good job that my waiting wasn't in vain, as the film was actually very, very good, its a very funny likeable comedy enlivened by standout performances from Nicolas Cage and Shirely MacLaine. These two really work well together and it is hard to imagine anyone else in their place, not only them but the whole entire cast is sprinkled with crazy and colorful characters that get funny dialogue and things to do, everyone works, everything fits and its just enjoyable to watch.

source:lisimg.com

I use the term 'comedy' loosely, not because it wasn't a funny film or anything, the opposite is true in-fact, I found myself laughing quite frequently throughout the film but there's a point where the tone changes so drastically I couldn't believe what I was watching! To me, it felt like two halves of a different film using the same characters but with different scripts and they were spliced together. At first its the funny hijinks of two people against each other and then it veers into dark themes about love, loss, death? And kidnapping also??? Where did this come from? Perhaps it's just me looking too deep into the film but before long, I thought, it got needlessly dark and I thought it was very, very strange. At the start of the review I called it a likeable comedy, originally I put lighthearted comedy and this is the reason why! Thinking about it more though, besides the kidnap after letting the film play out a little more and reflecting on it, (I saw it pretty much a month ago when I am writing this) I think the themes raised fit quite well in the end. They play well into the character interactions between Doug and Tess and their relationship grows because of it, even the ending. Did I like where the film ended up because of it? Yes. Could I have been just as satisfied if these were left out in favor of more funny scenarios? Yes. The film sets itself up to be a funny comedy and not much else, not like its a bad thing and the fact that it goes a slightly different direction could be debated as to whether or not it makes the film bad or not- pretty much like anything else in any film ever. But to me, I thought it veered a little off the path at some points but it all comes full circle in the end. It feels more like a dramedy than anything else.

source: carolinatheatre.org

Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine really are the standouts out of everything here, and so they should be considering the fact that the movie centers on those two for pretty much 99% of this and its hard to just talk about Nicolas Cage's acting here because he is rarely alone and spends most of his time, or at least trying to, 'guard Tess'. Comedy films must be so hard to make, given the fact that everything has to be delivered perfectly, timing of the joke and the fact that more times than not a movie scene is going to have to be shot more than once, its a miracle that any comedy film ever ends up actually being funny. So it does help when you have two very talented actors in the lead. Nicolas Cage's comedic timing really is quite good and even something that doesn't look like it'll be funny actually end up being so and because of his delivery, it works and the funny scenes that start off funny? They're hilarious, I'll never look at shopping the same way! Shirely MacLaine does her part too, to make everything a laugh riot, disobeying orders in a very childish manner, spouting out funny lines, driving off into the distance and even her laugh is funny. It's really great stuff.

One thing that really stuck out to me is that the film reeked of the 90's and that really isn't a bad thing either, if I didn't already know when the film came out, it really wouldn't take me long to work it out. Musical cues, little quirky moments with no music for brief comedic relief and fade out cuts? Oh yeah, this is a 90's film. The comedy here really feels like its mid-90s humor too, which sounds strange but thats just how I thought of it, I didn't overthink it or anything, it just hit me while I was watching it- it felt so 90s, the kind of things the characters were saying felt like a product of the 90's and I just kept thinking to myself 'oh that 90's humor, how we miss ye' 

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For its rather colorful, lighthearted and upbeat demeanor at first, the film does have some deep undertones to it, more than you would expect at first and it takes the audience on a very good journey, it makes you laugh, makes you cry but you never feel cheated or that a comedy just turned into a drama where everyone dies. The film is a comedy but it isn't afraid to take a few chances, add some meat to the characters and give you some storylines that you wouldn't expect at first. Even with the negatives that I focused on for a fair amount of time of this, I did infact enjoy the film and I liked my time with it. With great performances from the leads, great humor, a surprisingly thoughtful story and great characters to make what we are watching feel important. Guarding Tess is a very enjoyable comedy film that does something new.

Thank you for reading