Por Água Abaixo

There was a recent documentary on making movies, that featured a long list of actors and directors talking about what its like to make movies. One common theme was you can have a great script, great cast, the best director and lots of money and still create a bad movie.

Down Periscope is proof of the corollary to that theory. Not an original or terribly well written screenplay. A few solid actors, but mostly unknowns, and this movie just makes you laugh out loud! It would be easy to just say that Kelsey Grammar carried this movie, but that isn't truly the case. Other character actors, like Rob Schneider, and the hilarious Harland Williams, added significantly to the enjoyability of the film.

Cast dynamics, or that mysterious "movie magic" are really what happened here, creating a film that flows smoothly, has incredibly well executed transitions and line after line of well written and well performed dialog.

A preposterous premise, lots and lots of technical inaccuracies and just plan silly things that could not happen in the real world, or the real navy, but you just don't care. As a merchant marine myself, I found that the overall feel of the movie, while not plausible, was also not too far off the mark as far as life at sea goes.

This is a VERY funny movie, a good family film, and, particularly if your a fan, lots of Kelsey Grammar wit, sarcasm and just damn funniness.

I really don't understand all the bad reviews here. This is a fun film with a great cast. Some people are just to serious to enjoy a good happy and fun movie.

Being an ex-submariner on both diesel and nuc boats, I wasn't looking for a true to life Navy movie. I have enjoyed Down Periscope over and over again. Sure, some if not most of the realism of life on a submarine is skimmed over, but this adds to the appeal by creating a simplistic story line that is easy and fun to follow. I swear I knew most of the crew of the Stingray. The excellent cast made for an even more enjoyable movie. I don't want to get into specifics about little things that may not have been correct because that would only serve to detract from what I feel is an excellent movie to enjoy for its entertainment. So sit back, relax and "Let's kick this pig"

This is a VERY underrated movie to say the least. As has been pointed out in previous posts, this movie has a somewhat loose and highly implausible script but you find yourself saying "Who cares?" while shooting milk (or insert beverage of your choice here) through your nose. It was indeed due to a rare mix of actors in sync. While Kelsey Grammar is obviously a gifted actor (reference 'Frasier', this movie) the supporting actors/actress play their roles quite well. I found in interesting how they threw in the part about Duane Martin blowing the shot in the 'big game' for Navy's basketball team; if any of you is a basketball fan you'll remember Martin from 'White Men Can't Jump' and 'Above the Rim' and you'll know that Martin had a short stint in the NBA with the Knicks. Nice how they threw in believable character attributes such as this. Rob Schneider's anal-retentive character was the perfect offset to Grammar's calm demeanor. Lauren Holly played the gutsy-sexpot-with-a-brain well enough to make you want her to succeed. This is a movie that will make you laugh even if you've seen it many times before...the comic bits in this movie definitely last. I still find myself laughing 12 years later.

"Is that one of my chickens?" "Uhhh...no. This a parrot....from the Caribbean." "Well don't let it fly away...that's supper." "Arrrrr.....arr."

Sometimes juvenile, sometimes stupid and sometimes very predictable.....but yet this was a fun movie that is charming at times, too. It wasn't good enough to be a "keeper," but I did enjoy watching this.

The humor is a little sleazy at times but the language wasn't too bad. Kelsey Grammar plays a likable role in the Navy comedy. Most of his crew are somewhat stupid characters but I did like the sonar man with the great hearing. Lauren Holy was okay as the female interest but Rob Schneider was just plain annoying and tended to overact. He's either very funny or very stupid in his films. Bruce Dern, as always, was an effective "bad guy."

The story is a favorite of the film industry: a bunch of rag-tag misfits and rebels somehow outwit and outmaneuver the larger Establishment experts with their high-tech machinery. No matter how improbable or ridiculous, Hollywood will not stop that formula Nonetheless, it's decent lightweight entertainment with a nice, sentimental ending.

Odd, though: what I remember most is the guys stuffing cotton swabs up their nose! If you've seen the film, you know what I'm talking about.