Down Periscope Reviews

One of those movies that shouldn't have succeeded (it initially didn't at the box office), but still lives one because of its silly, enduring charm and loads of star turns (Rip Torn all but phoned in his role, Bruce Dern was his usual over-the-top self, and Harry Dean Stanton sorta snuck in).

I had no idea what to expect from this flick and, to be honest, I’m not really sure why I actually watched it in the first place. My best guess is that I watched it because William H. Macy was involved but since he wasn’t playing the main character, it was pretty much a waste of time. I’m afraid. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of spoofs in general but this one actually had some potential. Unfortunately, you could see from the start that they settled for some lame jokes and a rather predictable plot. On top of that, the stellar cast was not bad but not really impressive either (Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Rob Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, Bruce Dern, William H. Macy, Rip Torn) and, from the moment that you have Rob Schneider in the mix, you can be sure that you will watch a rather lame comedy. For the director David S. Ward, it was quite a step-down after the really enjoyable ‘Major League’ (on the other hand, he had already made the rather abysmal ‘King Ralph’ so this movie was maybe just a confirmation). Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was quite underwhelming and it is definitely not worth a look, even if you like the genre.