| The Luck of the Irish | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Paul Hoen |
| Produced by | Don Schain |
| Written by | Andrew Price |
| Starring | Ryan Merriman Alexis Lopez Timothy Omundson Henry Gibson |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | Disney Channel |
| Release date | March 9, 2001 |
The Luck of the Irish is a 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie.
Kyle Johnson (Ryan Merriman) is a popular basketball player in junior high school who has never known about his heritage. He is often told by his best friend, Russell Halloway (Glenndon Chatman), that he is the luckiest person he has ever known. He is always finding money on the street, so he doesn't have to bring lunch money, he never misses a shot when playing basketball, and when he hasn't finished his social studies test, he guesses on all the answers, only to have them be all correct.
One day he visits an Irish carnival where he finds that he can't stop step dancing along with the Irish folk music. He is knocked down by one of the carnies, and when he gets back up he notices that something feels different. The next day, he has the unluckiest day of his life. He loses his lunch money, his home brought lunch spills all over him, he can't find his homework, and he misses every shot at the basketball game. The anger of the school towards Kyle's missed shots is evident as a student (Jason Stamm) walks by Kyle the next day and scowls at him.
Over the next few days, Kyle's mother suddenly reveals to him that they are Irish and starts doing Irish things, such as cooking breakfast in the fireplace and speaking with an accent. One day, strange things start to happen to Kyle; his ears become pointed, his hair starts turning red, and he starts to become shorter. During science class he realizes that someone has stolen his lucky gold coin (the fake coin was attracted to a magnet and real gold isn't magnetic).
Kyle then hurries home to find that his mom has shrunk to two inches. The truth is then revealed to Kyle that his mother's family are Leprechauns. Kyle is only half leprechaun, since his dad is from Cleveland, Ohio. It also turns out that the gold coin he wore was the O'Reilly's (Kyle's mother's maiden name) lucky coin, a magic coin which, when in the possession of the youngest family member, allows all the leprechauns in the family to pass as normal human beings, and brings good luck to them all. But since the coin is gone, the family is down on their luck now, and reverting to their real forms.
Kyle also finds out that he has a 200-year-old grandpa, who's been in a long feud with his mom. But when Kyle, his family, and his friends put their heads together, they decide to chase after a far darrig named Seamus who has stolen their luck (the gold coin). In the process of getting the coin back, Kyle learns that your past isn't always as important as the present, but it makes you who you are. Kyle also has to make some serious and risky bets with the evil leprechaun Seamus, and sometimes it takes more than luck to triumph in the face of adversity.
Finally, in the end, with the help of his best friend Russell, Kyle defeats Seamus and banishes him to live forever trapped in Lake Erie, since part of the bet was that if Seamus was defeated he would have to live forever within the shores of Lake Erie, the "land of his forefather" he thought Kyle mispronounced "Eire", which is the Irish term for Ireland, because he assumed Kyle's dad was also from Ireland and not from Cleveland, Ohio (the shores of Lake Erie).
For Heritage Day he does an Irish folk dance wearing a Cleveland Browns shirt and Bonnie wears a Spanish dress and they lead the crowd in singing "This Land Is Your Land."
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