The Gist
Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge is being considered for command of a nuclear submarine, the USS Orlando. For the third time. If he doesn’t make it this time, he never will, and will be assigned a ‘desk job’. Some of the members of the board think he is irresponsible and unconventional. He recently brushed by a Russian trawler vessel near Murmansk, and was so rattled he ended up getting an…interesting…tattoo. They decide he will participate in a war game to prove if he is capable or not, and if he wins, he will gain command of a Los Angeles-class sub. One of the Admirals involved in the war game, Graham, has ‘never lost a war game’, and desperately wants Dodge to lose. The other, Admiral Winslow, is rooting for him and tells him to ‘think like a pirate’.
So he is equipped with an outdated, diesel class submarine (called the USS Stingray), and a mismatched crew, containing the navy’s first woman on a submarine (as the dive officer), an electrician who’s taken in a few too many volts, a sonar operator with incredible bat ears, a stubborn engine man, and an uptight executive officer. And so Dodge sets off to ‘capture’ Charleston and blow up a decoy sub in Norfolk, with some interesting results.
What We Think
What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Run Time: 92 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
This movie is hysterical. I laughed so hard I honestly thought I was going to explode. In my house, whenever someone is feeling upset, one of us quotes this movie, and it’s all better. It’s that funny. It’s just really well written, and whoever wrote the script should be given a medal of awesome (although I suspect that some of the stuff was ad-libbed – the actors in this movie are really talented comedians!) Kelsey Grammer was a good choice for Tom Dodge, because he could be spontaneous and crazy. Lauren Holly was really good in her role too. (For those of you NCIS fans, she may look familiar. Lauren Holly plays Director Jenny Shepard in seasons 3-5.) But some of the funniest characters were the relative unknowns. Toby Huss played Nitro, and Harland Williams played Sonar. Both were hilarious characters, and definitely made the movie.
I thought the overall plot was really interesting too. It wasn’t one of those movies that was funny but had no real substance. It had some action in it (although not a lot), and it was really attention catching. Also, some movies really overplay the romance aspect of the plot. And I mean really overplay, so I wanna hurl by the end. In this movie, the romance was pretty downplayed, only coming out in the end of the movie, and that was a big plus for me. The casting was good, and pretty original, because of all the bigger characters in the movie, only six or seven were big names in Hollywood at the time. (Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Rip Torn, Bruce Dern, Rob Schneider, William H. Macy and Harry Dean Stanton.) The rest were relative unknowns, but they flourished in their roles.
This movie was funny funny funny funny FUNNY!!!! It is now one of my all-time favorites, and it takes a lot to get on that list. That old saying that laughter is good for you? Every time I watch this movie, it adds a day to my total life span. I’m gonna live for a while…
Real Teen Rating ~ A+: If you haven’t seen this movie you are a deprived soul!!!
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