FILM FOCUS: THE LUCK OF THE IRISH

I am an unabashed fan of Disney Channel original movies; I haven’t kept up as much in recent years but I have watched and enjoyed many in my time.  Some even achieve a sort of low-budget brilliance (Don’t Look Under the Bed, Wish Upon a Star and the Halloweentown franchise spring to mind).  In addition to a host of Christmas and Halloween-themed movies over the years, in 2001 the Disney Channel made a stab at St. Patrick’s Day with The Luck of the Irish.  Even with pre-lowered expectations The Luck of the Irish proved to be both a bit painful to sit through and, at times, absurdly delightful—in other words the usual mix one encounters with a made-for-television movie.

The plot is your basic “preteen discovers he is a half-paranomal creature,” well-trod territory that’s been covered with everything from witches to mermaids.  Naturally in this case our hero learns he is half-leprechaun (on his mother’s side) once he starts shrinking, his hair turns red and his ears grow pointed.  Kyle (played by Ryan Merriman) must then battle an evil senior leprechaun who steals his family’s good luck in the form of a magical coin Kyle normally wears around his neck.  In the process he’s reunited with his estranged leprechaun grandfather, who runs a potato chip factory (as one does).

Even at a trim hour and a half (with commercials) The Luck of the Irish dragged; it had a few good lunatic moments but way too much basketball (which the main character plays…and plays…and plays).  Weirdly, this is the second "leprechaun playing basketball" bit of media I've consumed this month, after reading Leprechauns Don't Play Basketball.  I think I've discovered a new subgenre!  

There is a nice scene in the movie set at a lavish Irish festival, complete with carnival rides, Irish step dancing and booths selling all sorts of Irish wares.  Kyle’s mom, who morphs into a full leprechaun early on, also brings some charm as she cooks disgusting Irish breakfasts and struggles to unbuckle her seatbelt while in miniature form. But the real draw here is the villain, Seamus McTiernan.

Firstly, of course the villain’s name is “Seamus.”  Aren’t they all?  Seamus starts out as the leader of the Irish step dancers, wearing a rather flamboyant green silk blouse.  As the movie progresses he starts to increasingly lose his shit, engaging in an RV car chase and challenging the young hero to a sporting competition (which involves throwing wagon wheels, dancing, and hurling boulders).  But it’s during the penultimate basketball game showdown between the good leprechauns and the evil middle-aged ones (don’t ask) that Seamus goes from campy antagonist to the stuff of nightmares.  

When it looks like Seamus will lose the basketball game he literally changes from normal-looking dude to utterly freaky leprechaun-monster (still wearing his basketball uniform though).  Don’t believe the level of freakiness?  Take a look at this pic and see if you can spot which player is Seamus:

Argh!  He’s basically Satan if Satan was a basketball-playing leprechaun.  Despite the boost of zaniness that Seamus provides everything else about the movie is rather flat: the slow-moving story, the poor acting, and the lack of actual St. Patrick’s Day (it’s never specified when the movie takes place, but the holiday is never mentioned).  It was also rather distractingly filmed in Utah, and it shows. 

Even more distracting is the final message of this Irish-themed film, which is basically “the U.S. is awesome!”  While Kyle ultimately embraces his inner leprechaun, towards the end of the movie he makes several comments about how in America you can be whatever you want by working hard.  He ends up banishing Seamus to the shores of Lake Eerie and the final scene is Kyle standing in front of an American flag and leading a crowd in a group sing of “This Land is Your Land.”  So happy St. Patrick’s Day everybody!  But in the mixed-message spirit of The Luck of the Irish, don't have too happy of a holiday because the U.S. is ultimately best.  Happy Fourth of July, everybody!