Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Maverick Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge will never be a textbook officer, but he's a brilliant seaman who's always wanted to command a nuclear submarine — he's been given one last chance to clean up his record. Unfortunately, Admiral Graham, his nemesis, would rather sink the fleet than give Dodge his own boat. So, Graham stacks the deck against him and assigns Dodge to the Stingray, a diesel-powered WW2 submarine that can barely keep afloat. To make matters worse, Dodge's crew is a collection of maladjusted, mistake-prone misfits. Then, he's tagged the "enemy" in a crucial war game, and ordered to take on the U.S. Navy's best.
Down Periscope is a thoroughly competent but formulaic military comedy. The plot hits every expected beat of the misfit-crew-proves-themselves genre with little surprise. Kelsey Grammer leads a likable ensemble including Rob Schneider, Lauren Holly, and Rip Torn, and the cast chemistry elevates the material beyond what the script deserves. Visually, it's a mid-budget 90s studio comedy with functional but unremarkable cinematography — submarine interiors don't offer much scope. Novelty is low; the band-of-misfits-beats-the-odds military comedy was well-worn territory even in 1996, and the film adds little new to the formula. The ending delivers the expected crowd-pleasing payoff competently, which satisfies genre expectations without any real dramatic weight. An enjoyable watch that knows exactly what it is.