McHale's Navy was released in 1997, at about the same time the Down Periscope hit the theaters. Down Periscope is, for the most part, the better movie. If it were down to the two mid-90s US Navy comedies, I'd recommend Down Periscope first. This is not necessarily because Kelsey Grammer is a better actor than Tom Arnold--I'm not sure he is. It has more to do with the plot.

McHale's Navy, to make a long story short, is an enjoyable B movie, and in overall grade, I'll give it a B-. Note that this is much better than Batman and Robin, which received a D- as far as I'm concerned (lose Batgirl, and they'd go up an entire grade). McHale's Navy is a cute movie you can rent with the kids--it's not very profane, there's no nudity, and the violence is surprisingly light.

That last part is what surprised me the most--the general lack of violence in the film. For a movie which deals with a group of rule-flaunting sailors on a WW2 era PT boat, there is surprisingly little blood shed. Unless I've lost count, there were only five fatalities in the entire film, and neither were graphic. This is quite the accomplishment, considering that it deals with international terrorists (hey, what film doesn't, these days?), and one scene has McHale purchasing five thousand rounds of .50 caliber ammo from a Cuban weapons merchant.

My wife found this to be refreshing in that it departed from the dark-hero portion of almost every action-related film--McHale is a somewhat reluctant hero, but he's a good guy, through and through. That was a nice change from many action films -- and I say action film specifically, because even though McHale's Navy is a comedy, it still has definite aspects of the action film. One cannot have a minigun and missile-equipped gunboat running around in a pure comedy, after all.

It's hard to review the film without giving too much away, but I'll do my best. The characters are cute, if lightly developed. The addition of the female is mostly a non-issue, though the movie slows down a bit as McHale and the Lieutenant Penelope Carpenter sit on a dock and talk. No romance here though--not even a kiss. This movie could have been produced by Disney, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

The other characters are amusing. Bruce Campbell (of Evil Dead, Ellen (TV), and Army of Darkness fame) is always entertaining, and he gets a few minutes on screen. I'm really not familiar enough with the original McHale's Navy TV series to recognize all of the characters. David Allen Grier does his best interpretation of Tim Conway's character, but still falls a bit short. Conway is hard to beat when it comes to portraying nervous, bumbling well-meaning imbeciles. And though Grier tries earnestly, he just can't fill Conway's shoes. French Stuart (of Stargate and Third Rock From The Sun (TV) fame) is believably odd little sailor, who is wont to play backgammon with the local fauna, and sleep in trees. Brian Haley--one of the funniest stand-up comedians I've seen--is a weight-lifting, arm-wrestling bruiser, and Henry Cho is the technical support of the crew. The Japanese POW is nowhere to be found--likely because the war ended 52 years before this movie was released. Instead, a local islander (by the name of Jose) is the all-around mechanic of the crew.

And, of course, this movie is set in the Carribean rather than the Pacific, but that fact is fairly inconsequential; essentially, it works. Ernest Borgnine has a slightly-greater-than-cameo role as Cobra, the Naval Officer in charge of (apparently) special forces and SEAL teams.

Dean Stockwell is Captain Binghampton, and he does an okay job, but he just isn't quite as funny as the original. Tim Curry, the terrorist, is a humorous terrorist--and those are hard to find. He comes complete with his own shrink (who would have been better played by David Hyde Pierce, of Frasier fame), and the aforementioned gunboat.

I rented this film expecting something okay--I usually like Tom Arnold films (though I have purposely avoided The Stupids), and I was looking for something light and escapist. This movie is indeed light and escapist, and if you're looking for something to chuckle (and occasionally guffaw) at, this movie is worth the $1 at the local video store. There were probably a half-dozen scenes where I found myself laughing out loud--and none of them involved David Allen Grier. Instead, French Stuart, Brian Haley and Bruce Campbell managed to serve up most of the funny stuff.

Anyway, that's my $0.02. Note that until the last 5 minutes, and the solid Ernest Borgnine tie-ins, this film was only rating a C+ in my eyes...

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