Plot

Kyle Johnson 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

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 carnival where he finds that he can't stop step dancing

Step dance

Step dance is the generic term for dance styles where the footwork is the most important part of the dance. Body and arm movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant.Step dance is one end of a spectrum of dance styles...

 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.

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

Magnet

A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object...

 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 Leprechaun

Leprechaun

A leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Like other fairy creatures, leprechauns have been linked to the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology...

s. 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

Far darrig

A far darrig or fear dearg is a faerie of Irish mythology. The name far darrig is an Anglophone pronunciation of the Irish words fear dearg, meaning Red Man, as the far darrig is said to wear a red coat and cap...

 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

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 shirt and Bonnie wears a Spanish dress and they lead the crowd in singing "This Land Is Your Land

This Land Is Your Land

"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent. Tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on...

."

Cast

• Ryan Merriman
  Ryan Merriman
  Ryan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
  
   - Kyle Johnson
• Henry Gibson
  Henry Gibson
  Henry Gibson was an American actor and songwriter, best known as a cast member of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and for his recurring role as Judge Clark Brown on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
  
   - Reilly O'Reilly
• Alexis Lopez - Bonnie Lopez
• Glenndon Chatman - Russell Halloway
• Marita Geraghty
  Marita Geraghty
  Marita Geraghty is an American television and film actress. She had roles in several movies during the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notably Groundhog Day...
  
   - Kate O'Reilly Johnson/Kate Smith
• Paul Kiernan - Bob Johnson/Robert Smith
• Timothy Omundson
  Timothy Omundson
  Timothy Michael Omundson is an American actor perhaps most notable for his supporting roles as Sean Potter on the CBS television series Judging Amy, Eli on the syndicated series Xena: Warrior Princess, and as Carlton Lassiter in the hit USA Network series Psych...
  
  - Seamus McTiernan
• Duane Stephens - Patrick
• Charles Halford - McDermot
• Chelsea Chaney - Extra

External links