The Sunday Times (London)

June 30, 1996, Sunday

BYLINE: Stephen Amidon

DOWN PERISCOPE 92 mins, PG

Fans of Kelsey Grammer’s sublime television Frasier Crane will be sorely disappointed by the actor’s first feature film. His usual sardonic wit is largely submerged as he plays a good-natured submarine captain in a slight comedy about a group of Navy misfits aboard an antiquated diesel vessel who are forced to take part in war games against a fleet of modern nuclear subs. No points for guessing who wins. Unfortunately, Grammer’s character has been made so smoothly avuncular that his flinty skills as a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown are never aired. Instead, the film’s occasional laughs are delegated to a group of talented unknowns, especially Rob Schneider as a splenetic first officer and Toby Huss as the frazzled radioman. Not too bad in its own trundling way, though you would have expected a vehicle that could attain a bit more speed and depth for Grammer. SA