Down Periscope (1996)
Storyline
Bumbling Navy lieutenant Tom Dodge has been given one last chance to clean up his record. But Admiral Graham, his nemesis, assigns Dodge to the Stingray, a submarine that can barely keep afloat. To add insult to injury, the Stingray is to be the enemy flagship in the upcoming war games … and to make matters even worse, Dodge's crew is a band of idiots even more incompetent that he is!
Directors
Cast
Patton Oswalt, William H. Macy, Bruce Holman, Harry Dean Stanton, Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Bruce Dern, Rob Schneider, Toby Huss, Rip Torn, Dennis Fimple, Matt Landers, Harland Williams, Ken Hudson Campbell, James Martin Jr., Ancel Cook, Pierrino Mascarino, Duane Martin, Bradford Tatum, James Harper, Jordan Marder, Jonathan Penner, Joseph Latimore, Joe Soto, John Shepherd, Rudy Hornish, Tommy Terrell, Elliot Easton, Michael Connors, Paul Tranghese, Mitchell R. Danton, Jackson Sleet, Annie Talbot, Bob Dini, Andrew Christian English, Jamie James, Joseph Keawkalaya, Todd Odom, James Eric Anzalone, Brandon Ladd Burkey, Michael Koster, Felipe Rose, Timothy D. Rossi, Theodore Carl Soderberg, Gary Vinant-Tang, Gabrielle Wagner, Tirralan Watkins
Trailer
Reviews
60
The makers of Police Academy and Major League team up to take on the submarine corps in Down Periscope, and the result is a testosterone comedy that's crude fun, with a pinch of corn-pone morality. It's good-natured, innocuous frivolity that should raise a few smiles and generate good but not great spring box office.
50
Grammer's first major feature after his TV success with Frasier finds him embracing a new persona. Out goes the intellectual cold fish, in comes the intuitive, warm, fun-loving leader of men. The role looks good on him, but it's a shame that he's also jettisoned the sophisticated dry wit which has been his hallmark in favour of a much broader, wetter humour. But what would you expect of a movie directed by Ward and co-written by Hugh (Police Academy) Wilson?
50
Down Periscope makes a surprisingly successful launch, with plenty of brisk one-liners and a promising set-up. But after that auspicious opening, it sinks.
40
Empire
This is amiable enough and perhaps one shouldn’t expect anything more from the team that brought you Police Academy (writer Hugh Wilson) and Major League (director Ward). What really lets this down, though, is the uninspired plot and one-dimensional characters. While it’s true that this was never going to be a high-brow evening at the pictures, the air of familiarity it leaves behind proves to be a major disappointment.
40
Though Down Periscope is set in the age of the nuclear submarine, the jokes seem to date back to the time of the original battle of the ironclads.
