Down Periscope

Though the ads make "Down Periscope" look like an off-the-wall "Naked Gun" or "Hot Shots!"-style farce, it instead proves to be a character comedy. And while it's not particularly original and is certainly uneven, the result is a generally pleasant surprise.

A sort of updated cross between the movie version of "M*A*S*H" and the 1959 classic "Operation Petticoat," "Down Periscope" also sends up just about every submarine movie you can name — from "Up Periscope" and "Run Silent, Run Deep" to "The Hunt for Red October" and "Crimson Tide."

Kelsey Grammer, spinning his success as TV's "Frasier" into a big-screen tryout, stars as Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge, who has waited impatiently for 20 years to get a nuclear submarine command of his own. But his maverick demeanor has also offended certain high-ranking officers, chiefly Rear Admiral Yancy Graham (Bruce Dern).

So, when Admiral Dean Winslow (Rip Torn) devises war games that involve a scrap-heap, diesel-powered World War II submarine by the name of U.S.S. Stingray going up against modern nuclear subs, Graham sees to it that Dodge takes the helm.

It's bad enough that the ship is, as Dodge puts it, "an ad for Rustolium," but his crew is made up entirely of misfits and losers, among them a hot-headed executive officer (Rob Schneider) and the first woman to be assigned to a submarine full of men (Lauren Holly).

Still, Dodge is confident he can win the games if he relies on his wits and employs clever, if unconventional means. (When he screams for duct tape you may think you're watching an underwater "Apollo 13.")

Some of this is silly and dumb as jokes fall flat. But there are also some laughs to be had. There are no big comic set-pieces, per se, but the cast is good, their dimwitted reactions to the goings-on are often amusing and there is even some suspense as the war games wind down.

As the head of this ensemble, Grammer is well cast, doing a variation on his TV persona as both pompous and slightly zany. And the veterans — Dern, Torn and Harry Dean Stanton as the grizzled engineer — all have their moments.

But Holly is too submissive and meek — a fault of the screenplay (conceived by Hugh Wilson, of the "Police Academy" movies) and/or direction (David Ward, who last gave us the two "Major League" comedies). In the end, she is merely a sex object, which is a serious waste of the character's potential.

"Down Periscope" is rated PG-13 for some vulgarity (including a running gag about Dodge having a tattoo on his private parts), profanity and comic violence.