Deep Dive Disney St. Patrick's Day Special: Wes Looks at The Luck of the Irish

Welcome my friends and happy St. Patrick’s Day! Top of the Morning and all that. Today, to mark this very Irish holiday, we are returning to the well of Disney Channel Original movies to cover a stupid little movie called Luck of the Irish. Why? Well look, I love St. Patrick’s day, but it ain’t exactly Halloween or Christmas. With the Big Holidays, I have plenty of material to choose from, but for this holiday, it’s slim pickings and since we’ve already covered Darby O’Gill, I guess we’re stuck with this weird little flick from 2001 where a kid turns into a Leprechaun. I joke, but I actually have a soft spot for this movie. I saw it for the first time when my family had rented a beachside condo in the Florida Keys and me and my cousins were stuck inside on a rainy day desperate for something to watch on TV. The movie is dumb, but charming in its own way. It also happens to be the subject of my favorite episode of my favorite podcast, Escape from Vault Disney. That particular episode happens to feature friend of Deep Dive Disney, Agatha Vile, whose opinions on this movie will likely not line with my own. In any case, here’s our premise. Kyle Johnson is a teenager known for being the luckiest kid in his entire class, particularly when it comes to his skills on the basketball court. Kyle attributes his luck to a special coin his mother gave him to wear around his neck when he was a small child. Kyle seems to have it all, but strangely, his parents are oddly evasive whenever Kyle asks questions about his heritage. When Kyle’s lucky coin is stolen, we find out why. Turns out, Kyle is half Leprechaun on his mother’s side and that magic coin was what allowed the clan O’reilly to pass as human. Without it, his mother is now an inch and a half tall and Kyle is slowly shrinking and growing pointy ears. What’s worse, being a Leprechaun apparently gives one an unavoidable compulsion to adhere to Irish stereotypes (I like this movie, but I did say it was stupid). With the help of his best friend Russel, an overachiever named Bonnie and his estranged grandfather, Kyle must get his lucky coin back from the evil Leprechaun that stole it before his family runs out of luck entirely. Let’s take a look at The Luck of the Irish.

Main Character:

Kyle is a pretty stock character, which is fairly par for the course when it comes to DCOMs. He’s not actively conceited or anything, but the fact that things come so easily to him is the sort of thing that you can see rubbing a lot of people the wrong way, not helped by his stereotypically dumb jock mentality. It’s not his fault since he’s unaware of his Leprechaun lineage so it’s not like he’s intentionally taking advantage of his unnatural luck, so I guess he’s likable enough, at least to the point where you feel bad when his luck goes away. Initially, Kyle doesn’t especially care about his heritage but becomes increasingly curious when it becomes clear that his parents are hiding something. At first, Kyle is understandably weirded out by the revelation that he's half Leprechaun, but as the film goes on, he embraces who he is and finds that he is able to make his own luck. Not the deepest and most interesting arc, but for a DCOM, it’s not bad.

Villain:

Alright, now we’re getting into the fun part. Our villain this time around is an evil Leprechaun and Michael Flatley stand-in named Seamus McTiernen played by the always delightful Timothy Omundson before he became a recognizable name for his appearances in shows like Psych and Galavant. Old Seamus has been stealing the lucky coins from Leprechaun families for centuries in order to give himself more power, his ultimate goal being to become king of all Leprechauns. He can’t resist a bet, but always finds a way to twist the bet so that he gets what he wants in the end. He’s kind of like a low rent Hades in that regard. I’ll this though, Omundson is a blast in this movie, hamming it up like an absolute champion every time he’s on screen. You can tell that Omundson is having the time of his life playing this character. He’s goofy and silly, but he still comes across as a serious threat. He might very well be the best part of the movie. Bravo Omundson, bravo.

Side Characters:

I’m not going to dwell on the side characters too much, but I’ll try and hit the highlights. Kyle’s Mom (who is not a bitch, that’s the other lady) actually gets a lot of genuine laughs, especially once she shrinks down to Leprechaun size. The epic music that plays when she grabs the car keys and tries to reach the doorknob usually cracks me up.

Kyle’s dad is also pretty funny. He’s from Cleveland… and that’s all I have to say.

Kyle’s best friend Russel is a gifted athlete, but no where near Kyle’s level of talent, not having Leprechaun magic backing him up. When Kyle’s grandfather gives him a lucky coin of his own, it serves as a placebo to help him find the confidence to tap into the skills that were there all along, which in turn helps Kyle learn that he can make his own luck. Bonnie starts out as a pretty unlikeable character. She’s pushy, judgmental and derides Kyle simply for being an athlete, something we later learn is out of jealousy since her parents won’t let her play basketball.

And last but not least, we have Kyle’s Maternal Grandfather Reilly O’Reilly (yes really), played by the Illinois Nazi himself, Henry Gibson. Much like Omundson, Gibson is a delight in this movie, getting plenty of great one liners. Apparently the whole reason Kyle’s family left Cleveland and went into hiding was because Leprechaun’s don’t approve of mixed marriages. However, once the family reconciles, they all work together in order to get their coin back from Seamus. There’s also this really sweet moment when Kyle finally accepts his Leprechaun heritage and Reilly is touched by the sentiment. However, I need to address this movie’s unforgivable sin. See, according to this movie, Kyle’s Grandfather invented the potato chip. Being someone who actually knows history and isn’t a racist piece of shit, I happen to know that a black man invented the potato chip, so if anyone knows the name of the shithead writer who came up with that stupid idea and where would be the best place to leave a flaming back of dog shit for them to step in, that’d be great.

Memorable Scenes:

Probably the funniest scene happens while Kyle is explaining things to Bonnie and Reilly pulls out a flute and starts playing an Irish ditty in apropos of nothing. When asked if he has to do that, he responds “I’m Irish, this is how I manifest despair.”

Probably the most interesting set piece in the film comes when Kyle bets Seamus that he can beat him at sports. Kyle should have been more specific because Seamus teleports Kyle and Russel to some sort of Irish pocket dimension where the two boy take on Seamus and his goons in ancient Irish sports known as the Tal’Chine Games (apologies if I misspelled that). The whole scene is actually pretty fun and it’s nice to see all the cool old timey competitions. As a former high school wrestler myself, I appreciated the old school Greco-Roman style wrestling. Though, I don’t think Kyle should have won an Irish dance competition with some weird “You Got Served” style breakdancing.

Story:

There’s a few lessons that can be taken from this movie, but probably the most prominent is how one doesn’t need luck to succeed. It’s not a very deep message but it’s there. This movie is fun, but I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t see why a lot of Irish people would find this offensive as it definitely indulges in more than its fair share of stereotypes. Still, the charm manages to balance it out, even if by the end, things get a little too “Yay Rah Rah America” for my taste.

Final Thoughts:

This movie is far from perfect, but I like it anyway. The actors all turn in likable performances, and ultimately, in my opinion, the good outweighs the bad. In any case, I hope you all have a happy St. Patrick’s Day. Enjoy your corn beef dinner, support your local Irish dance center, and remember, always drink responsibly. As for next time, honestly, with my work schedule the way it is and how I barely got this article in under the deadline, I have no idea. But I hope you all stick around for all the fun stuff I have planned.