The Bechdel Cast - The Luck of the Irish (2001)

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

On this episode, leprechauns Caitlin and Jamie head to the end of the rainbow to discuss the Disney Channel Original Movie, The Luck of the Irish (2001).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The patriarchy's effing vast Start changing it with the Bechdel cast Top of the episode to you Jamie Oh wait I had to do I can't do an Irish accent But that didn't stop anyone in this movie Oh let's do a let's do a wee bit of podcast And I guess I love that

I oh my God Watching Ryan Merriman crash out over saying da Instead of dad He's like, no. I'm Irish. Also, this movie is so iconic. Presenting Irishness as a disease, like as an Irish, as a mostly Irish person, you know, I saw the vision. Being Irish is a disease.

And it's terminal. Wow. Wow. Shout out to our Irish listeners. I think we have many. We do. We do. And truly, like, some of our, I think, longest, most loyal listeners are Irish.

And Caitlin, are you Irish at all? I am. I'm about 25% Irish. Nice. So you're, you can serve. So a wee. A wee. So I would say I'm a wee bit Irish. I'm, I believe, like 60, 70% Irish. I'm quite Irish. My dad's side of the family is all Irish.

Sure. I guess, well, I guess let's start the show. This is a main feat episode. Welcome to the Bechtel cast. My name is Jamie Loftus, Irish, so you can't yell at me. Irish last name, yes. I'm taking out my Irish card. My name is Caitlin Durante.

Caitlin spelled the Irish way. Exactly. Okay. Yep, yep, yep. We won't be doing the accent. We only do that to punish our Australian listeners for some reason. Yeah, sorry about that to our Australian listeners. I might accidentally kind of slip into an Irish accent a little bit in this episode.

I beg your forgiveness listeners. Look, I just, you know, this is my revenge on anyone who's ever butchered the Boston accent, all right? Oh, yeah. I really, I don't know why because I have, like, have Irish family, but I just have never, the accent has never leapt out of me. I don't know what it is. It's a hard one to, it's a very tricky one. It's a very master. But here we, here we are, this is the Bechtelcast, a podcast where we take a look at your favorite movies and today Ryan Coogler's favorite movies and take a look at it from an intersectional feminist lens and we are in fact I mean it is the week of St. Patrick's Day and we are talking about the 2001 movie what a year in film this Shrek wow end of list um pretty much it yeah but yeah a decom from 2001 kind of obscure but uh in the news recently because

genuinely because of Ryan Coogler, who is doing such an amazing press tour or like an Oscars tour for sinners. He's just saying kind of whatever. The two stories that I've seen from his interviews that have gone viral are about this, the luck of the Irish, and also about the Coke remix machine. Have you seen that story? Oh, I haven't seen that one. What's this?

Wait, hold on. I think I'm getting the name of it wrong. It's like the Coke machine at AMCs and like Wendy's and, um, wait, what is that called? Coke, uh, like the dispenser. Yeah. January, okay, this is a vulture headline from January 28th, 226. Ryan Coogler spills on love affair with Coke freestyle machine. Quote, I got involved with that, unquote.

Um, he's, he's so funny. Um, I forget that Ryan Coogler is like in his 30s. like he's young and would have seen the luck of the Irish on TV. We'll talk more about his history with it. But that's how this iconically not even remotely Irish movie has come across our radar, as it apparently had a hand in inspiring the Irish characters and sinners, which is wild. Yes. Honestly, brave of him to admit.

If I were him, I would have, I appreciate when someone says something so embarrassing saying that it has to be true. I know. Well, the clip that's going around is him. It's at a screening or whatever. It's like a panel and someone's interviewing him and he starts talking about luck of the Irish. And then someone in the audience. Yes, worked on it. Yeah. She's like, that was my idea. And he's like, wait, what? And she's like, yeah, I pitched it to Disney. I meant to look into that further, but I simply didn't even. I was not able to figure out who that was, but I have read interviews with, I'm like weirdly well prepared for this episode. I've read interviews with the writer, which, and you won't believe this.

He does not know a lot about Irish culture. What? Can you believe that? Can you believe that? It's going to be shocking based on this movie's presentation of presenting being Irish as both something to be extremely proud of, but not as proud as being American, as well as being very ashamed of it, something that is a cause for shame and it's basically a disease.

I kind of, it's such a mess that it's, I'm choosing and I'm so interested in what our Irish listeners think. This movie is so convoluted that it's like hard for me to get offended by it because you're just like, I think the intent is good, but it's kind of impossible to know. Well, yeah, we'll talk about it. There's a lot of, there's, it's mainly the colonialism stuff. that you're just like, well, we maybe should have learned a little about Irish history before talking about being the power-hungry king of Irish.

You're like, well, well, you have to go back pretty far anyways. Yeah, yeah. Everything is very, very vague, glossed over or just not even acknowledged at all. They're either talking about the Lucky Charms mascot or they're talking about kind of England at a lot of points where you're like, this is not. This is like, this is, I don't, what are you doing? Anyways, this is the Bechalcast. This is going to be a silly one.

Yeah. Yes. But what's your, well, what's your history with this, Jamie? This movie. My history with this movie. I have to imagine, I don't think I saw it like right when it came out, but this was shown on Disney Channel all the time. So I definitely had seen it more than once, I'm assuming.

But not in a very, very long time. I did not remember most of what happens in this movie. I just remember mainly being like, I have a crush on Ryan Merriman because he was just like a boy you had a crash on at this time. It was. He was in Smart House also. Was he not? He was iconically in Smart House and Final Destination 3.

Let's not forget. So we've covered, this is our third Ryan Merriman movie. Yes. The Merrimaniverse goes deep. I don't really know anything about. Oh, and he was in. Pretty Little Liars, which is one of my guilty pleasure shows. I don't know how much he's working now, but he should have been in sinners.

Although I guess by watching The Logue of the Irish, Ryan Cougar would be like, well, he can't do the accent. So maybe that's why he didn't get cast. Yeah. No, this was a fascinating watch because this movie is we're going to try to cover as much as we can in the time we have, but it's kind of impossible. There's so much that happens. Okay, so normally when I'm watching the movie, because I'll watch the movie twice generally to prep for the episode. Sure. The first time is when I write the recap.

And so I'm sort of like writing, maybe pausing occasionally to like kind of catch up. I could not do both at the same time because this story moves so fast and so much happens and none of it makes sense that like I was like, I just need to let this wash over me and I'll do the recap later. I have no choice but to say like this. I don't know. There are parts of this movie that are incredibly frustrating, but it's so silly that it's hard not to be like, time well spent. Yeah. Yeah. So I definitely saw it when I was a kid. I did not remember really any of it other than this is the St. Patrick's Day movie with my crush.

So it was really interesting to realize that it falls into, I think it's weirdly in conversation with another movie we've covered and another. decomm that we haven't covered and I'm going to call this and let me know if you can think of others like family friendly coming of age body horror because oh sure that is definitely what this is there's another decom that also stars a young man which I think is interesting um called the 13th year and it's about a boy who on his 13th birthday becomes a merman and Okay. I remember watching it. Another movie I haven't seen it easily 20 years.

I remember being like, am I having a sexual awakening with the mermaid boy? And, you know, so there's that. But it also reminded me a little bit of a movie we've covered, Turning Red, another coming-of-age body horror movie. Okay. Yes. I was just thinking that. This is a whole subgenre. And then I was also thinking about, speaking of Pixar, was turning red of Pixar or was it just Disney?

animation. Either way, brave. Yeah, but that's the mom though. That's the mom turns into a bear, right? Okay, I couldn't totally remember what the plot was. And then Brother Bear? Oh, you know, I've never seen that one. I haven't seen it in a very long time. I think Brother Bear might be the bear transfer. Weird that there's two. Brother Bear might be the one that's different. Although, I feel like Brother Bear, it's like a curse or something, which I would almost put in a different category because oh sure this is like because my like you're I don't know

and I don't mean to like be creepy about it but it's like my in turning red it's the most explicit my body is changing and so I am now a different species and so we have leprechaun, merman and panda and red panda

okay then there's witches where a boy is turned into a mouse and the horror imagery in that movie if you recall is really gruesome. Right. Then you have something like, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which I don't think I've ever seen that weirdly, even though Rick Moranis could get it.

Your crush. Yeah. I haven't seen it in a really, really long time, so I don't remember a lot of details. But no, I think there are a lot of movies in this sub-shot. This is a letterbox list waiting to happen. I'm kind of into it. I mean, I think it's fun that it's not presented as horror, but it is. pretty horrific what is happening to this young boy throughout the movie.

He's really, I don't know, I just think it's interesting. Anyways, I saw this movie. I had no memory of how weird it is. And I'm very excited to talk about it. Had you seen it before? Because I know you weren't a decon kid, yeah. No, I grew up without cable famously. And so any Disney Channel original movie I've ever seen,

it was because I watched it for this podcast. Well, you're welcome. I really do think, I don't know if we ever would have covered this movie if it were, because we've covered movies by Irish filmmakers. We've very recently covered banshees of it as Sharon. So it almost like this might not be a movie we would have gotten around to if it weren't for Mr. Coogler. So thank you, question mark. There's a lot.

I also like that he started like kind of a standing ovation for the woman who worked on the luck of the Irish. and he's like a lot of kids in Oakland loved your film. I was like, oh, Ryan Kluge's fun. He's great. But yeah, I had never seen this before.

However, like the character Kyle, I have Irish ancestry and like the character Kyle, I feel not very connected to it because I think this is a pretty common thing in the U.S. of white people with European ancestry. especially in, I don't know if this is maybe like more of a small town thing because I've like, I've met white people from cities who are like, yeah, I have this big Italian family and

we're very connected to our Italianness or our Greekness or, you know, X, Y, Z country in Europe. I think that's just true of like many immigrant communities. True. But also like, and I don't know if it was like growing up in a small town where. you're encouraged to like assimilate and like leave any previous cultural heritage behind. But I'm, you know, Irish, Italian, I think a little bit German, some Scandinavians in there. And I don't have any connection to any of these cultures. So I feel like that's so, I mean, it's like that's so much of what the movie is commenting on.

I think like at some points very effectively, other times, not quite the opposite. much. But like it is interesting seeing that like where it reminded me of this was like God, maybe five years ago now, but the conversation we had with Ali Nadi when we were talking about Frozen 2 about how and and I'm paraphrasing here because this was half a decade ago. But she was saying that white people should be more interested in what their indigenous culture is instead of appropriating American indigenous culture. American culture? Yeah.

Well, not even that, but like instead of appropriating American indigenous culture, it's like, you do have your own heritage taken interest in it. Like, but there is this like discouragement to do that. I think how many, because I grew up, I would say like I don't, I didn't know a lot about Ireland's history or anything like that. But I did grow up with Irish family members. It's weird. it reminded me a lot of like the parents in this movie kind of reminded me of my dad's family a little bit this is pretty this is a stretch but like my dad is fully Irish and every summer when he was a kid he would be sent to Ireland to be with his family but he would mostly be doing like manual farm labor

and so he was like, I don't like Ireland. That's where I go to work on to bail hay. I don't like it. But like he was pretty like removed from like he experienced a lot of it firsthand, but like he never really talked to us about it. And I wonder why that is. I just, I don't know. It's interesting to think about because I would like to know more about specifically

Irish culture. Have you been to Ireland? Yeah, I've been twice. I've been to only Dublin. I've like been to Dublin to do shows twice. Yeah, I've never met my family. My brother and I are actually possibly going to be going this summer to meet some of our family. It's lovely. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. But all that to say, this is such an interesting cultural like piece because it does sort of direct, well, sometimes directly, sometimes not interface with how estranged white Americans can be from their culture. Yes, I think it's quite common. Which is not something I've seen explored in children's media before. So, I don't know. But yeah, what did you, what was your experience of watching this movie? You know, when you do not grow up with decoms and then you

watch them well into your adult life and like these movies and these types of stories have not been normalized for you you're just like what the fuck is this like what am i looking at this sucks like is that kind of like that it's exactly like that i would say but you know what is great about this movie is that it's like 85 minutes long and so many such decoms um yeah no So it's, ultimately this movie is really, it's, I appreciate it on the, strictly on the ground said it's fucking weird. And I'm happy that it exists because I'm happy. Anytime a movie this weird exists and people are still talking about it 25 years later. That's kind of cool.

That said, it's nice. The movie is unhinged. It's so wild. It is so weird. We take a quick break and then come back for the recap. I'm so excited for you to recap us. Good luck. Thank you.

Be back. I Heart Radio is throwing it back. 2010s, the decade. To the days of huge hits. And unforgettable items. A non-stop stream of the biggest and best. Drake, Rihanna, Beyonce, Katie Gaga, the weekend. And more.

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He became the first Bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity. scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you.

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listen. Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast, starting on February 24th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your... podcast. And we're back. Okay. Recapping. We also, we didn't say what the, if this is your first episode of the Bechdel cast,

interesting choice. The Bechal test, you know, I would say, you know, don't worry about it. This movie does not pass it. No, you can, yeah, look it up on your own time or listen to another episode, but. There was one exchange that almost, oh. almost really close. But it was like between a teacher and a student and the teacher had no name. So swing and a miss.

And the rest is men having crises about their lepricon bodies. So. Okay. I kind of knew that this was one of the many, many, not just decoms, but just like family, like kids movies in general that centers around a sport. and often specifically basketball. This is not even the first Decom basketball movie that we've covered too

because we covered the, what was it, like full court miracle or something? Oh, yes. The Hanukkah movie. Right. And then high school musical heavily features basketball. And we haven't covered,

I think, a lot of millennial queer awakenings to the movie double-teamed, which is a pretty wild name to give to a children's movie. But they did that. And it's about twin basketball players. Wow. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Because that was the other millennial media trend was sports and twins. And twins. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So lots of sports.

So I knew that about this movie because I've seen the poster before and like he's in his basketball jersey on the poster. Yeah. I thought it was going to be a story about him going to Ireland and then like, I don't know, doing something. That would be far too simple. Too simple and way... That would make sense.

Way too big of a budget. They don't have go to Ireland money on decon budgets. They really don't. Apparently it was shot in like Utah. Yes. Because I was like, there is like a beautiful like mountainous background. I'm like, where the hell are they? And they're apparently in Utah for, I'm assuming, budgetary reasons.

Yeah, I'm like, what tax brings? was Utah offering in 2001. We don't know. Anyway, here is what the story is about, not whatever I thought it might be. We meet Kyle Johnson, played by Ryan Merriman. He's having a bad dream

where he's at a school Heritage Day assembly thing, and he's about to perform. But wait, he's only like two inches tall, so no one can see him. foreshadowing alert. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

There's also voiceover from Kyle talking about how. There's a lot of voiceover from Kyle. Every time. So much. So unnecessary. Well, I think it is necessary and they just probably didn't shoot some stuff they should have. Oh, well, true. There's a lot of things where I was like, oh, I guess they just couldn't afford to

to show us that. So he's just saying it. He's telling us. in his voiceover he's saying he's talking about how everyone in the world is different and we all have these different cultural backgrounds that should be celebrated but wait a minute he doesn't know anything about his heritage so he wakes up and he asks his mom and dad where their family comes from and he's interested because of this like upcoming heritage day assembly that's actually happening he's not just dreaming about it he's and it's organized

by his crush slash frenemy girl unclear she really hands his ass to him so many times in this movie it's so awesome one time she literally hands his ass to him and then like gets a basketball in the hoop

like it is so awesome yeah she literally she's like you you suck and then swishes it's awesome go bonj she does hand his ass to him a lot but she also spends all of her waking hours, like chasing him down being like, let me help you figure out your heritage. I'm like, you have other, don't you have anything else going on? She's a girl in a movie. Kaila, what's she going to do? Have a friend? I don't think so. Not in this movie, no way. And then the twist at the end is, I also, I don't know, I'm getting way ahead of myself,

but like the twist at the end being like she wanted to play basketball the whole time. I was like, I was not picking up on that. But I guess good for her. that the wish we didn't know she had came true question mark yeah the the irish wish remember that movie that i i'm still petitioning that we cover we should cover it we should look i if you're listening to this it's possible that we are covering it on the matrion because as of this recording we haven't pulled yet so yeah if you're if you're a matron maybe maybe you chose violence and we have in fact covered that movie at this point yes yes anyway so kyle asks his mom and dad where their family immigrated from. And they're like, no, we're from here.

We're from America. We're Americans. And that's the only heritage we need. I thought this was a really interest. Again, like we were talking about, like I think it's obviously super exaggerated. Because it's, I also like that it's basically shot like a horror movie. Where it's like all fish eye lenses. They're eating this like horrific, disgusting casserole. And Kyle. Oh my God. That was so funny. I thought like this, there's moments where this movie's really cooking, I thought, like, where she's making this like lettuce monstrosity. And Kyle's like, oh, is this like a dish from our, from our culture?

And she's like, no, it's just from a magazine. It looks horrible. Let me describe this dish. It's like plain spaghetti or glass noodles or something. Point is there's no sauce to speak of, although the, but it is wet. It is a wet dish. It's slimy. But it's just like glass noodles with like gelatinous globs of tofu or chicken or something.

And then like random vegetables kind of loosely scattered throughout. And it served in this enormous bowl that's lined with romaine lettuce leaves. Like it is. It's horrible. It's horrific. But I also, I was like, shout out to whatever prop master came up with that because it was it was really amazing. I was so impressed.

Yeah. But yeah, but it's I, I did like that for a portion and again, this movie, anything that you like about this movie will prove to be inconsistent as the movie goes on. But, but I did sort of like the like that this like aggressive like, we're not anything. We're American. like a horror movie because that is not far off because it's just I mean

the thing that this movie won't do that we'll talk about is like acknowledge like it I feel like multiple times they walk right up to the line of acknowledging colonialism but not quite then back off and say Americans believe in baseball and you're like

well what the hell like You, like, it's so close. And multiple instances of genocidal colonialism as well. It's like American colonialism, English colonialism of Ireland. Like, but instead it's just kind of vagified into like, we had some difficult times, but we were resilient and now you're fine. And you're like, okay, what was the, what happened? Right.

What happened? And that's, you know, where Disney draws us the line. They're not about to talk about what happened. Certainly not. And certainly not in 2001. No. Okay. So Kyle is curious.

His parents keep being like, no, that's, we're American. So shut the hell up. We're from Cleveland. Again, a very funny joke. Yeah. That maybe goes on for too long, but. They talk about it all the time. Until the very end of the movie, there's still, I'm like, okay, okay.

Yeah. But anyways. Either way, Kyle can't help but feel like. Like there's something his parents are not telling him. Also, Kyle has a Chekhov's lucky coin necklace thing, which he takes to his basketball game, where he makes a lucky shot. It wins his team the big game.

And they're going to go to the championships. And then the next day, he takes a test at school and he guesses all the correct answers by pure luck. So he's a lucky guy. Although at some point I felt like it got confusing where it like the it stands for the luck of the Irish, which again is like pretty laden in tropes around Irish people. But also at some point it seems to in conversations with Bonnie, it seems to sort of be the lucky coin stands in for like white privilege. White privilege. Yeah.

But kind of only in that one scene where she's like, oh, well, you never have to try. like, you know, some of us actually have to try. And it feels like she's talking about white privilege, but then that kind of just goes away. And you're like, well, that was, like many things in this movie, we're like, that was an interesting idea. We will not be seeing it again. Yeah, that immediately tapers off and goes nowhere. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. So that night, he asks his parents again, where their ancestors are from. And this is where we get the scene with the disgusting bowl of iconic casserole. Yeah. Yeah. And again, his parents dodge the question. So at school the next day, he goes on www.

internetsearch website.com slash 2001. I love this scene in every movie. Every, yeah, he's like, what is, what, who is my dad? Like, that's sort of what he looks up. Yeah. And then the, the girl at school who keeps hounding him, about the Heritage Day Assembly. This is Bonnie Lopez.

Yes. She sees him struggling. So she tries to help. But Kyle's last name is Johnson, which of course is one of the most common names in the U.S. So he cannot find anything. There's like four million hits on his search. Yeah.

And he does not know his mother's maiden name. He says something like, yeah, I've never really thought about my mom's side of the family. And it's like, oh, do you not consider women at all. People. And also, like, seeing his dad, I'm like, this is the interesting person in your family. Oh, my gosh. It is, like, the most, like, stereotypical, like, doofist Disney dad. Oh, my God. Yes. I'm from Cleveland. Whatever.

Yeah. And, of course, this will come up with Bonnie multiple times, but, like, Bonnie, good potential for a character, right? But, like, the thing with Bonnie is that her whole, you know, she, you know, she, she. is in charge of Heritage Day, all this stuff. And we never find out what her... Her heritage. Anything about her heritage? Nope. We find out at the end that her and Kyle's other friend Russell, who is black,

they both have fathers. That's the reveal at the end of the movie. They both have fathers. And you're just like, okay, but you never learn anything about their heritage except for a very weird line of dialogue that we'll get to later. Oh, which, trust me. Yeah. Okay.

So Kyle is like, why don't I know anything about my family's heritage? So he keeps digging around. He looks through his dad's yearbook and newspaper clippings and like his birth certificate or something. I don't know. But he discovers that his dad's last name wasn't originally Johnson, but Smith. And you're like, is he a spy? Is he cool? The answer is no.

No. And I don't even, does this even come back? why did he change his name? They changed it so that they wouldn't. Okay, this is confusing. Like they said later that there is, and this is like, again, based in something real, but the way they're describing it is so incoherent where they're like, oh, like, leprechauns don't accept lepracons marrying non-leprechaun.

Like you can't have mixed marriages with non-lepracons, which does come off a bit anti-Irish, but that they like, okay, this is where I get confused, because I think that they changed their names so that they could like live incognito mode, but they also moved to the town where her father owns a very successful potato chip factories. So I'm like, why did they not move somewhere else? Well, I think they moved their first to Utah. And then the father, follows them but doesn't try to interact with them at all. And so I'm like, well, then why the hell did he do that? And why potato?

I mean, the potato chip of it all is so funny. And also, Bonnie is so like smart girl.jpg that she knows things that you're like, what the hell? Who told you that? Where she, when they get to the potato chip factory, because listeners, there is a climactic scene at the potato chip factory. she's like actually potato chips were invented over a hundred years ago I'm like why do you know when potato chips were invented you can't just like anyways and it's not even Irish it's whatever it's fine

it's so confusing um okay so Kyle learns that there's some mystery with his family name and so he and his friend Russell speculate why his dad might have changed his last name and this is all happening while they're shooting hoops because they weigh basketball in every chance they get anywhere anywhere possible and then Kyle sees a sign advertising this like Irish fair thing yeah that this guy named Seamus McTiernan runs who randomly ends up being the villain although it takes a really long time yeah yeah and so on this sign is a symbol that matches the symbol that's on Kyle's lucky coin.

So Kyle is like, what? Am I Irish? And so they go to this Irish fair. It also is so funny to me that like, I don't know, maybe it's because I grew up in a very like high concentrated Irish Italian area. But the fact that he's like shocked that he could be Irish, I'm like, it's, it can't be that shocking. I'm like trying to think of an equally ludicrous thing for him to be shocked by

but he's like, I'm Irish. And you're like, I mean, yeah, you're Ryan Merriman. Right. He also looks Irish. Yeah. His mom has red hair. He's like, I'm Irish. Anyways.

Well, he never noticed his mom's hair because he never noticed his mom before because he does not consider women to be people. Yeah, he said he he he said women actually aren't people to me. And you're like, oh, got it, got it. Oh, I see. Okay. So at the fair, they meet an old Irish man who keeps carrying on about Kyle's shoes and he mentions Kyle's mom. There's this weird thing with CGI quarters. Yeah. And then the old Irish man mysteriously disappears. And so we're like, okay, we're getting kind of like plot witch vibes, except it's a plot man. Man witch. Yes.

Okay, so then some step dancers start performing, led by the man who runs this fair, Seamus McTiernan, played by Timothy Olmanson. Who is like in things, like he was in psych and he's in some other stuff? Yeah, Grant was like, I love this guy. I don't know. You're like, yeah. Sure. And so Kyle starts, like, doing the dance along with all these dancers.

Like, he somehow instinctively knows all the steps. Which, again, it's presenting, like, I'm displaying symptoms of Irishness. He's having an Irish outbreak. Uncontrollable step dancing. It's, like, it's iconic. It's iconic, the uncontrollable step dancing. It's like I'm, you know, Irish listeners, it is very possible. I don't know.

You're like, am I offended by it? It's hard. It's hard. It's just so silly. It's so, so silly. Yeah. So he's dancing. But then someone bumps into him and knocks him on the ground.

And then they help him up and they're kind of like manhandling him a bit. And we're like, hmm, what was that all about? Don't worry. We'll find out soon. But before then, his mother. Kate, seemingly apropos of nothing, suddenly has an Irish accent. She's cooking traditional Irish food for breakfast. She has unleashed her curly red hair.

And she's like, by the way, Kyle, I've decided to tell you that my family came from Ireland. And he's like, oh, okay. What? He cannot believe it. that he cannot believe his white Irish family with red hair is from Ireland. It's from Ireland. I also don't understand why she changed her mind all of a sudden. Is it because of the coin thing?

I think it's, again, it's like the rules are so unclear. I thought, I thought that it, the rules of being Irish. But like, also, it fully conflates being Irish with being a straight up leprechaun. Like, I couldn't, I couldn't tell if this movie in the world, this movie takes place. regular Irish people exist. Right. Are all Irish people lepracons in the movie?

There's also confusing rules around like when you can see a leprechaun versus when you can't. At the climax of this movie, the grandfather lepercon is just sitting on top of a basketball hoop. And so I was like trying to get there. And I was like, oh, probably only other lepracons can see him question mark. But then Russell just walks up to him and is like, hey. And I was like, Okay. So everyone can see them and no one cares.

Yeah. The rules are, I mean, it's, you'll, you're just, there's, there's no point in trying to understand the rules because there's no rules. But I, I thought that the mom was becoming uncontrollably Irish as a symptom of being Irish. I thought it was like, she, she's like, you know, she can't control it. It could be. I didn't interpret it as a decision she was making. Well, because.

Which is not great for agency of women, which is what the show is about. This is true. I, okay, here is my best guess. Okay. Her suddenly displaying her Irishness. But also not Irishness, it's she's. Lepreconness, yes. It's like being Irish is a symptom that could lead to becoming a leprechaun.

That's sort of the, because she, I guess she does first embrace like very broad, like Irish. food and her hair is out and she has an accent but then it's presented as like and the symptoms continued to worsen and then she became a leprecha so here's what it is maybe

okay yeah anything her displaying these quote unquote Irish slash leprecon because the movie does not know the distinction between the two traits coincides with Kyle Luz his coin, which he doesn't know that he has lost it yet, but it happens at the fair because it gets stolen.

We'll find that out. And then that seems to be the moment that his mom, and the whole thing is that the coin allows this family to hide their leprechaun features, such as their very short stature and their Irish accents. Right. That's why the coin is so important. And then when he loses it, that's when his mom is no longer. longer able to like quote unquote pass as a human right I mean it's like that's why I mean this movie

there's so many reads of this movie and the movie just never really decides on one well no the movie like the grandpa does say that he's like the coin is what we use well yes he literally says like that's how we pass as human I know lucky coin but it's like but that also kind of but but but that read which they state also also for me kind of chafed with the body horror read, which they also state. And like, it just feels like there's a little bit of mixed messaging of like, should we be proud to be Irish or not? Like, it's so confusing. Because, yeah, I wrote like, you know, there's a read of this movie that's like a coming of age body horror. And then there's the one that like being a leprechaun is a metaphor for being a descendant

of an immigrant culture that's been forced to assimilate, but it's still an unavoidable part of who you are and that's nothing to be ashamed of. And you can't, at some point, you can't tie. where you come from, even if you don't fully understand why you are the way you are and that there is this inherent disconnect if you are isolated from your native culture. And then there's the one where it's like, I'm so short now and I'm scared. Like it's so confusing. I love this movie, I think. Right, it's like, and maybe this is us getting ahead of ourselves,

but the movie is trying to be like, America is a culturally diverse. melting pot and that's part of what makes it great. But then it's also like... Also being American is a distinct identity and it's important that you adhere to it. It's very confusing. And our cultural differences should be celebrated, but also if you are culturally different from quote unquote American culture, such as being a leprechaun question mark, you should hide it. And... Well, that's the thing. Like, yeah, but, but the, like, when Kyle embraces his, and again, like, we have to, for the sake of the way the movie works, conflate Irish people and leprechauns, which is, but like once he embraces the fact that he's Irish, all his lepracon-like qualities disappear. And he is himself again. So you're like, well, it's not, it's not very Shrekian is what I'll say. because part of why Shrek is so effective, genuinely, is because he continues to embody the othered form and, like, embraces the beauty of it.

And that's what Fiona does. Right. But Kyle kind of goes back to looking like a white kid in Utah. So, like, it's just, I don't know. Whatever, whatever, whatever. This movie doesn't make any sense again. No. Okay.

where were we, Kyle's mom is displaying Irish qualities. But also like he's, yeah, sort of. Quote unquote. Exactly, quote unquote. And then the other unusual thing about this day is that Kyle's luck seems to have run out. He gets splashed by a puddle. He keeps dropping things and spilling food all over himself. He drinks from a drinking fountain that makes him look like he pissed his pants.

he can't make any foul shots at basketball practice and then also after this practice they also have another de big basketball game that same night like normally you don't have a practice and then a game on the same day but sure yeah they're this is just like we've got bigger fish to fry I don't even know I honestly that did not even scan for me I was like yeah of course of course of course we've been at the school for 40 hours at this point the other sports thing that doesn't scan is that toward the end of the movie, Kyle is wrestling. And then Russell says like, oh yeah, Kyle's on the wrestling team. Oh, I loved that. I loved that they just throw that in there so that the scene makes sense. So exactly. But here's the thing, the wrestling season happens at the same time as basketball season. So you probably can't do both. I think that that to me screamed studio note where they're like, why can you do that? Oh, just have Russell say he's on the wrestling team. That'll make. sense. Meanwhile, it's like one of the most incoherent scenes in the entire movie where they're doing

ancient Gaelic games while repeating incorrect Irish history. Like, it's so bizarre. It's so bizarre. Yep. Um, okay, anyway, so before we get there, there is this basketball game. And Kyle, because his luck has run out, biffs the game. And everyone is mad at him, although they still win. So they have another de big game the following night. The next day. Okay. So then the next day, his mom is now in like, I don't know, 19th century Irish garb. Her Irishness, quote unquote, keeps heightening.

And Kyle is still having really bad luck. And he finally realizes it's because his lucky coin necklace is gone. because his is made from gold, but the one he has is iron, which he finds out in science class because they're experimenting with magnets. Yeah, and Russell knows how magnets work, which is how we randomly, when we're later told,

I want to be a scientist. I was like, oh, because he knew one thing about magnets. Well, he knows about magnets, and he knows about rainbows and, like, refracting of light. So he knows and stuff. He's a science kid. He's a kid in STEM. Yeah.

Yeah. So this is how Kyle finds out about his necklace. So he realizes someone must have stolen the coin and swapped it out for a different one. Kyle goes home and discovers then that his mom is a lepricon and comes from a long line of the lepracons of the clan O'Reilly. So his mom's maiden name is O'Reilly. His mom is now six inches tall.

And this all explains why Kyle his hair is turning red his ears are kind of pointy he's shrinking he's like shorter than he used to be because he's half leprechaun it's pretty cool he's again this is like a horrific sequence and but they're like

I also like that they stop short of they're like well he's only half leprechaun so he's only going to get like a little smaller right he's going to be just like a short kid And he has like kind of like a box dye job. For sure. Which is awesome. The ears.

It's, you know, it's a lot, but I'm into it. The makeup department was really, they were cooking. Yeah. With all $12 they were given. Precisely. Okay. So we learn that as long as the O'Reilly clan has their luck, aka the lucky coin, they can pass as human.

but because Kyle no longer has the coin, that's why they're all shrinking and becoming more leprechaun-like. And Kyle is like, okay, I think I know who stole the coin, this old Irish man at the fair. And his mom is like, oh, yeah, that's your grandfather. We were bound to run into him ever since he opened up that potato chip factory down the road. And you're just like, I cannot. I cannot take in another piece of information right now. What do you mean ever since he opened that potato chip factory around the corner from where we live in Utah? Like, sure.

Why the hell not? Wouldn't it make more sense if the movie was set in Idaho, which is famous for potatoes? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And also not for nothing. like again just the randomization of this movie like potato chips are not from Ireland they were invented in England oh again just like a lot of weird English

history is being attributed to and that's like very obscure it was invented in England in like the 1800s so I'm like what so why so just like why so why is the question you can ask every 30 seconds I would say in this movie Okay. So we learned this about Kyle's grandfather who he had never met because the grandfather disowned his daughter, aka Kyle's mom, when she married a human because, as you alluded to earlier, leprechaqons don't believe in mixed marriages. And he's never thought about his family before. Yeah, he doesn't. Although he does like, it seems like he, approached Kyle at that fair knowing that that was his grandson and he's like wow shoes

leather potato chips and it's just like is this how you talk to your grandson yeah i also loved the cgai quarters he throws into the sky oh it's iconic it's iconic okay so kyle and his family go to the potato chip factory called emerald is to confront Kyle's granda whose name is Riley O'Reilly. And let that sink in for a minute. And that's on Ireland. Right. Right.

And he's played by Henry Gibson, who I recognize from a few different things. He's also like, you know, he's in stuff. Yeah. Not, you know, he's American for what it's where. American. If you couldn't tell, that's not a real Irish accent. He does look very, wait, I'm looking at his, oh, Grant, okay, I'm outing

my fiancee as a dork. He's in Magnolia. That's what Grant knew him from. I think that's what I most recognize him from as well. He's in Magnolia. He's in wedding crashers and he's in Boston legal. Maybe that's what I know him from. Oh, wow. Anyways,

I think he makes a meal of whatever the hell he's supposed to be doing in this. I enjoyed. I enjoyed it. Okay, so they go to try to confront Grandpa Riley O'Reilly, but they can't get in to see him. Meanwhile, Bonnie is at the factory for a tour with the like young achievers club. So Kyle links up with her. The security guards start chasing them because Kyle isn't supposed to be there. And then they end up bumping into Grandpa, Riley O'Reilly, who tells them about the luck of the clan O'Reilly.

And he's like, well, I didn't steal your coin, but I think I know who did Seamus McTiernan, the guy who puts on the Irish step dancing fair. You're like, right, the perfect crime. And we learn that Seamus is a fair derrick, which I had to look this up. It's a type of fairy found in Irish folklore, one who loves playing pranks, especially like kind of gruesome pranks. Yes. There are random real things that are referenced here, but there's so few and far between that I have to attribute it to rewrite. Oh, yeah. They're like, we should put a fact in here. Right. So they go after Seamus in Riley's lime green convertible. So awesome. It is pretty cool. Also, Riley O'Reilly has a long white beard now because I guess this is him turning more and more into a leprechaun. Again, it's like Irish is a disease and you're catching it.

Yeah. Russell also. randomly joins them because he's just sort of out wandering the streets. As many characters, as most of the supporting characters in this movie seem to be doing, they're just loose. They're just kind of waiting around for Kyle to show up. It's kind of Truman showish. They're just like, where's Kyle at? It is exactly like that, yes.

Yeah. So together they start chasing Shamis's mobile home camper van thing that has a pot of golden side. But because the clan O'Reilly don't have luck anymore, they crash the car because Seamus throws corned beef and cabbage on the windshield. So some really interesting, intense, like intense shots of corned beef and cabbage. Really beautiful. Like, yeah. And I, and I love my Irish brethren, but the food, it's just not for me. I'm not a fan. It's just not for me. And I don't think this movie does it any favors in making it look better. The breakfast looks good. The breakfast looks good. Sure. But then also his mom is like, here, take this to school. It is a rusty bucket full of what appears

to be mostly slop. Why does she give him lunch in a bucket is the question I had. No lid. This is taking it back a little bit. But I did think it was very funny and very like Disney coated. That on like Kyle's least lucky day, 90% of what happens to him is he's just like, like spilling things on himself. He's just like every, he's like, this is the worst day ever. And then he'll like slip on a banana peel and fall into like a bowl of soup. And like it's just him getting stuff on his clothes. Yeah.

All day long. All day long. Worst day ever. Which, okay. You know, we, we've talked so much about like Hillary Duff Pratt Falls. Yeah. It's nice to see a boy character doing something similar for once. But he's like not even.

I guess he does fall. He does fall. He does fall. But you're right. It is mostly, it's like, whatever. It's general clumsiness. It's just like scene after scene. We could have cut a few because he gets, he gets spilled on at the locker. He gets spilled on it at lunch. He gets spilled on out. He gets, he spills the bucket on himself. The water fountain sprays his crotch and then it looks like he peed himself. He gets splashed by a puddle with a car driving by. It's truly like eight different things. It's so many spills in a row. And meanwhile, he's like doing this weird teenage, like, hitting on a girl where he's like looking good looking good ladies it's like oh Ryan merriman looking good ladies I'm like yeah definitely what 15 year old boys were doing

it's so like my dad wrote a script oh looking good young ladies yeah um okay so the the car has a flat tire, their chase, their pursuit of Seamus McTiernan has come to a screeching halt. All hope is lost. Kyle is like, I'm not even good at basketball, am I? It was just my luck that made me good at it. And then his dad is like, oh, I'm so sorry, Kyle, we should have told you about your leprechaun heritage a long time ago. I do appreciate that the dad apologizes to him.

I am confused about the implicated. of his whole life being attributed to a coin. Like, again, this is where the white privilege thing becomes introduced and unintroduced. There's a great scene with Bonnie and Kyle where she says, like, you're a nice guy, but you'd be a better person if everything hadn't always been so easy for you. And then she, like, basically dunks a basketball. That wasn't luck. It was practice, you know, hard work. And you're like, oh, that's interesting.

But it's also kind of, I feel like it's sad for Kyle's entire, like his passion is playing basketball. And they're like, well, that had nothing to do with you. And you're like, that's really deep. That's really dark. That's a really dark thing to introduce. Like, without this, I don't know. Like, it doesn't even really scan for me. Like, without a connection to your culture, you have no function.

You're useless. Like, it's just a, again, the messaging is a little bit like muddell. I don't quite understand. Yeah, like, I don't think that there's a way to be like, oh, this is what they were trying to say. They were just like, we got to fill 80 minutes on TV. Yes, exactly. By any means necessary. Yeah.

Including what is about to happen, which I definitely didn't remember and could not have anticipated the ancient games. Yeah, so that's coming up very shortly. First, in this like, you know, end of act to low point moment, it starts pouring rain. and so they're stuck in the rain. But Bonnie gives an uplifting speech about how Irish people lifted themselves by their bootstraps and America is slay. Also, she knows so much about Irish history

and we get no insight into her heritage. None whatsoever. This scene, we have to just go through it. Bonnie says, when the Irish came to America, things were tough and they had to work at jobs that other people wouldn't take. And they didn't get paid what they. deserve. Russell interjects. At least they got paid, which I think is supposed to reference that

he is possibly descended from enslaved people. That's what I thought as well, yes. Which is an unhinged way to acknowledge slavery. And also that is the only insight we get into any non-Irish character's heritage. It's upsetting. Bonnie ignores the thing Russell has said. And continues. But they didn't give up and they kept trying until things got better. That's what makes them special. Not where they are now, but the spirit that keeps them going on the way there. Kyle says, she's a young achiever to neg her.

And then Bonnie is, you know, whips her fucking flag. No, she doesn't. But she says, I'm an American. That's what we all are. And Americans don't give up. And everyone's like clapping cheer. Yeah. Like it's one of the.

weirdest jingoistic like I mean it does sort of I still think it's weird even for its time but like it definitely lines up with a lot of the messaging that you receive or you received it's certainly not messaging that children are getting now from the oppressive power structure they live inside of because we now live in an openly anti-immigrant country but for a long time the way that Americans would, and particularly white Americans would obfuscate

the internalized racism and anti-immigrant tendencies was to tell kids we're a nation of immigrants. We're a melting pot. But all together, we're a melting pot and we're all Americans. And the identity of Americans is one of tolerance

and then like capitalism, basically. It's like working hard. There's a scene that happens later with Kyle and his grandfather, where Kyle's grandfather, Riley O'Reilly, is like, I'm going to take the gold. And Kyle's like, no, don't take the gold. We work hard to do, to earn. We came to America to work hard.

And so it's like preaching the melting pot myth that America was founded on. and also capitalism is how immigrant communities are able to lift themselves up and you're just like, this is a mess. There's so many. And then it ends on this land is your land. Oh, my God. No, there are so many either like monologues or bits of voiceover or just imagery that is basically like USA, USA.

Like it is so jingoistic. Right. Which feels very of its time. Like it feels like it reminds me, again, of a very weird and coherent version of like stuff you would experience at school as a kid of like assemblies and like we're so proud to be Americans. And I don't know if you were at if you were in a public school anytime around 9-11, like it was relentless. So Bonnie gives this speech about how awesome America is, which causes the rain to instantly start. stop and a rainbow appears. Oh, you didn't think the rain was plot relevant?

Well, it is because now there's a rainbow. They have to go fight in the ancient games. And they have to chase the end of the rainbow. So they do. And they're running and running. And then they eventually find Seamus's camper van. And Kyle and his grandfather sneak inside and take back Kyle's lucky coin. But not all of the gold, because that would be.

you have to earn the gold. I was like, I don't think Seamus earned the gold. No. And that's, well, whatever, whatever. No, for some reason, Kyle is right in this situation. Kyle is right. Well, yeah, we learned that Seamus, the whole reason that he stole Kyle's coin was that he's collecting all the lucky coins from all the leprechauns across America so that he can become

the king of the leprechauns. And based on what we've seen, because. we are conflating Leprechauns and Ireland. I'm like, so he's sort of like, I'm going to be the King of Ireland? Ireland. Which, to my

understanding, and again, I'm not super tapped into Irish history, I think that the reason they're going into ancient history and the Tilton games is because he's trying to recapture an ancient version of Ireland, question mark. But again,

it is confusing that they do that. It feels like kind of obfuscating that they're doing that because the relevant parts of Irish culture that we're talking about to the plot, it seems like Kyle's grandfather immigrated from Ireland.

Possibly around the time that Ireland gained independence, possibly during the time of the potato famine. That history isn't interfaced with because that is too challenging to colonialism, I think. I think that's why they go into ancient history because they don't want to talk about English colonization anymore than they want to talk

about American colonization. That's my guess. Yeah, no, I can see it. Yeah. I'm also guessing that that's why they're like, yeah, Riley O'Reilly invented the potato chip because Ireland equals potatoes. Yeah. I do think that that is as far as they're thinking about it. Honestly. For sure. Okay, so they find Kyle's lucky coin again. But Seamus McTiernan uses his fair derrig magic to sense that something

is wrong and he appears and kidnaps Riley O'Reilly. And then Kyle remembers that Seamus can't say no to a bet, something that was planted earlier in the movie. So Kyle challenges Seamus saying,

if I beat you at sports, you have to let my grandfather and I go and I get to keep my lucky coin. And then he really raises the stakes for seemingly no reason at all. And he says, yeah, go ahead. So they play sports, but oh no, it's not, you know, basketball and baseball and football like Kyle was expecting. Seamus transports Kyle and Russell maybe to Ireland. I'm not sure where they are. They're on a field where they play the Charlton games, which, again, had to look up, but it's a series of games and sporting events similar to, but predates the Greek Olympics by over a thousand years.

And then I started to do a deep dive on these games. And I was like, focus, Caitlin. It's really interesting. Yeah, it is. But it is. I'd never heard of these before. Nor I. So they start doing the various kind of sporting events, such as the sport of hurling.

They're also heaving around boulders and chariot wheels and they're wrestling. And Kyle's team and Seamus's teams end up tying. And Seamus was like, well, the bet was that you would beat me and you didn't beat me because we tied. So Kyle has to hand over his lucky coin, but then he's like, well, wait, minute. What if I beat you at basketball without my luck and my lucky coin, I get to get my luck back and you have to go to the land of my forefathers, the shores of Erie for all of eternity. And if I lose, I think these are the stakes you were talking about. I will be your slave, he says. And why the hell does he raise the stakes in that way? That is not.

asked of him. He just says, here are the stakes I'm willing to, like, it's so weird. I know that, like, I would say the stakes are appropriately high before he says that. It's just, I don't have an explanation for it. I just thought it was very weird that the stakes were raised so severely. I guess he's trying to save his grandpa, because, yeah, but also it's just like, why did he suggest that? I don't know. I don't know. I would have suggested something far less consequential. Right.

But Kyle is so confident in his basketball skills that he has been told he doesn't have that he would be willing to raise the stakes in that way. He's risking it all. I was confused. I was confused. But the stakes were raised regardless of how I feel. This is true. And actually that's really good storytelling.

So there you go. There you go. Okay. So Seamus Transport. them to the middle of Kyle and Russell's the biggest game yet. It is so well because the Teltin games, I thought, was the big game, but there was bigger games to be had.

There's still somehow another game. And now Riley O'Reilly is chained to a basketball hoop. Yes. Yeah. And theoretically, everyone can see him. To a basketball hoop. Everyone can see him. No one reacts.

And when they're playing against Seamus, the reference. Like, again, it feels like a studio note of like, well, they wouldn't just let Ryan Merriman play basketball, I guess a 40 year old. And so they call it out for some reason where I think again, it's like Russell is tasked with having to like spackle the plot where he's like, wait, you're not just going to let us play against a 40 year old. And the referee is like, uh, trug. Whatever. And then lets them play against a, oh, an angry 40 year old who becomes. at one point really like ghoulish looking. He becomes this like lepricon monster, but don't worry, it has absolutely no consequences or

effect on the plot. And it happens right before Russell scores the winning basket, although before that they're playing and they're, Kyle's team is losing. And then he has to realize that actually luck doesn't come from a lucky coin. It comes from your heart. Or maybe luck is confidence. and confidence comes from your heart. There's a number of possible answers.

You can really kind of choose your own adventure as to what the ending means. Also, we randomly see Russell's dad. Russell's dad is presented as like this big, I feel like he's presented as a reveal, even though we've been told he exists many times. No, we see him earlier in the, like we see him pretty early on in the movie. Yeah. Okay, we do see it because he's talked about a lot because Russell's always like,

my dad, my dad, my dad. And you're like, okay, this is going to be another person of color best friend whose family we never meet. I guess we technically meet his family. But also, it's just weird that Bonnie and Russell, you know, this happens. But I just thought it was weird that they were both like, here's their dad. And especially because this story is like pretty aggressively disinterested in women and specifically mothers because it's like, to me, Kyle's mother is very important.

until the grandfather's introduced and then she all but disappears from the movie. For sure. It was like they just were waiting for it to get to a point where it could be about fathers and sons and then they kind of do away with her. Like this movie could easily write out the grandpa character and just have Kyle's mom take on that role.

Well, but then how would there be a potato chip factory, Caitlin? Well, yeah, and that's a hugely important part of this story. I'm guessing that that's a big reason. I stand corrected. Yeah. Also, I was wondering, like, so my best guess about like, okay, we only meet Russell and Bonnie's dads, but not their moms, because both of those characters, Bonnie and Russell, have tiny little arcs, but they're both about basketball.

And I think the movie was just like, well, okay, they both like basketball. And so their dad has to be involved because sports and basketball are boys. things, even though Bonnie wants to play back. So like, I don't know. I don't know the logic behind any of this, but it is messy and ridiculous. Yeah.

Okay, the point is Kyle's team at the last minute wins the big game to end all big games. Which means that Kyle takes back his lucky coin and Seamus is

cast away, not to ERA like Seamus thinks, which of course is the name of Ireland in the Irish language. Yes, which is, I didn't think was clearly explained. No, I had to look it up. No, not that it's, and again, it's like, it's interesting because there are certain movies. We just talked about Daughters of the Dust recently. That is like, it is a directorial choice and intention to not explain a culture

because it is not someone's job to explain their culture to you. But I don't think that really plays here because this whole movie has been presenting very broad Irish stereotypes and also still explaining them. So then to present an actual fact and not tell us what it means is weird. And also you consider the audience. This is young people watching it. It's like clearly like sort of an educational intention with this movie, but they're not correctly educated. the audience. Okay, so a little trick because Kyle is a leprechaun and leprechauns love little tricks.

He says, I didn't mean era. I meant Erie, aka the Shores of Lake Erie, aka Cleveland, Ohio. Oh my God. Because Dad's, because Kyle's dad is famously from Cleveland. Yeah. There's the small beat with Bonnie and her dad who is always pressuring her to overachieve, but Bonnie's whole thing is she actually wants to play basketball. And because a white man told Bonnie's dad that he should let her play basketball,

he's like, okay, sounds great. Because it turns out this is what she's, yeah, thanks to the, and then Riley at Riley is like, and that's kind of the magic of America, isn't it? And you're like, right, right, right. And then the movie ends with the Heritage Day Assembly, where Kyle does Irish step dancing because he's fully embracing his Irish heritage now. Poor Ryan Merriman. I'm like, did they give him even one minute of training?

He looks awful. He looks terrible. He doesn't appear to be doing it well. And then he leads the crowd in song. Like you said, Jamie, they're singing, This land is your land. This land is my land. And it's all very, yay, America.

the end. Yeah. It's, it's, and again, like, we could get into, and there's, I believe, a lot of good episodes of cool people who did cool stuff about this. Like, the history of the song, this land is your land, and Woody Guthrie is far more nuanced than the very jingoistic way it's presented here. But I don't think it's intended to, I don't think it's put here for, for the sake of nuance. I think it's just like, America is all about, uh, whatever this movie was. us and you're like right yeah totally well let's take a quick break and then we'll come back for more iHeart radio is throwing it back 20s the decade to the days of huge hits and unforgettable a non-stop stream of the biggest and best drake riana viontie katie gaga the weekend and more

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Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast starting on February 24th on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. And we're back. And we're back. Okay. We've already talked about a lot of the things. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the big thing with this movie is that it clearly wants to present this idea of like, wow, a marriage.

America is great because it's so culturally diverse and it's a melting pot and all of our cultural differences from all of our heritages make it awesome. While avoiding all of the parts of American history that did not support that, it's so, it's like, obviously, it's like bad for kids to be receiving this messaging in the way that it's bad when kids receive that messaging at school, which the message itself, the message of tolerance and the message of like it is a positive thing to be connected with your heritage and to know and understand it and to feel. comfortable sharing it with other people. That is true. Is it true that, you know, at different points in history, there have been opportunities for immigrant communities that were not possible elsewhere. Sure. But it's just so clearly American propaganda that, like, there's no nuance to what is being

said. So it's frustrating. It undercuts what I think is like kind of a nice message, which is like a connection to your native heritage is a positive thing. Right. Which is like, yeah, but it's also tying that in with, I mean, like we've talked about on the show a lot and what is like very clear here is just like, but on top of your native heritage, you're also an American capitalist and you love America, don't you?

And there's nothing wrong with America. All we do is play baseball and work really hard. And there's no, I mean, there is a moment with Kyle and his parents at the beginning where it's like almost presented as a joke where he asks if he's, if they're indigenous. He's just like throwing out random cultures of like, are we this? Are we this? Are we this? Are we this? And they're like, no, I don't, of course we're not indigenous. You know, like there are moments where colonialism is acknowledged. Right. Referenced. But I guess referenced is the word, but not acknowledged. The way indigenousity in this movie is handled is very bizarre. I have a whole spiel about this if you'll indulge me. Please. So opening scene of the movie is Kyle's dream.

We're in the auditorium. We see like different people from different cultural backgrounds. Who are never characters that we meet. Never, never. The stage features flags from around the world. including the flag of Israel of the genocidal fake country of Israel

there's the voiceover talking about oh celebrating our cultural differences we see a native person dancing on stage they're in regalia they're doing what appears to be a traditional native dance I am unable to say how authentic any of this

is right I don't know for sure either way again another character well I wouldn't even call him a character like we don't meet this person they're not a character We know nothing about them. Yeah. And then, again, the way indigenity in this movie is either largely ignored or referenced in very bizarre interactions. The next one is, like you were just talking about Kyle asking his parents where they immigrated from.

He says everyone's family comes from somewhere else. If you go far back enough, unless we're Indians, meaning native people. Right, which is referencing that like native people, were on this land before. But there's no effort to be like, I mean, it's just that like obfuscation of like, and then what happened? Because this is not a movie or more importantly, a media company that is ever going to acknowledge colonialism or colonial genocide.

Exactly. And then the dad is like, no, I don't, we're from Cleveland. We're from Cleveland. Right. A little bit before that. one of the many times Bonnie goes up to Kyle to ask him about his heritage and what he's going to do for the Heritage Day Assembly. And she says, America is a nation of immigrants. Everyone's ancestors came from another country, which, again, not true for people indigenous to Turtle Island.

Right. I mean, it's oversimplified. Like, you see what she's saying, but it's oversimplified. What frustrates me more there is that if this were a normal human interaction, she would then be talking about her family. Exactly. She's like, for example, my family's from XYZ place. We don't know she doesn't offer any information. And then Russell responds, I'm part Cherokee, which number one contradicts what Bonnie just said. But he says it in such a way where it seems like he's supporting Bonnie's statement. So it's either weird acting or just, I don't know. It's not the kids

fault. It's bad writing. It's bad writing. I think that it's genuinely like a writer not even thinking hard enough to realize that that's a contradictory statement. For sure. And then if Russell is Afro-Indigenous, we learn nothing more about that part of his identity because... No, we learn that he is part Cherokee and it's implied he's descended from enslaved people. And that's all we yet. But that's the point. Like there's no attention or care about any character's cultural heritage or ethnic heritage except for the white kid who's family's from Ireland. Right.

Which is like, you know, Irish heritage, valid. Great. Love it. Mm-hmm. We've got it. But it is glaring that in this like fairly diverse cast of kids that it's only the white kid who's, I feel like, and this is not to put down my Irish brethren, but it is sort of present the way that the very real oppression.

of Irish people, which again is it's not really said, who, why? Things were hard. And then we came to America. Who was oppressing us? Why America? Like, you know, all of these questions that there are clear answers for, but that it's presented that like Irish people are uniquely oppressed in a way that is just like, no, this is how colonial oppression works. You know, it's, it's, not explained what the oppression is and it's sort of presented as like and this is the only time that's ever happened which again is like you know this movie is like obviously a bad educational tool if that's what it's supposed to be which i don't think it is but but it's just like okay if we're acknowledging that russell's ancestors were enslaved like uh uh we know nothing about bonnie's ancestors like it's just i think it presents this weird for of, and the way that I think Irish culture is sometimes sort of used as a way of being like, well, white people have been oppressed too. And you're like, okay, like, okay. But that, but, but it's, I feel like it's sometimes used as a way to obfuscate how disproportionately non-white cultures

are oppressed by white cultures. Right. So it just feels like I'm not opposed to the premise, well, I don't even know if that's true. I'm not opposed to the premise of like acknowledging oppression of the Irish, which by the way is not a completely white culture. But like, I'm not opposed to that, but it is weird to do it in the framing device of a heritage fair and not acknowledge any other heritage, not only not acknowledge any other heritage, but not acknowledge any other culture's oppression. Right. Except for in very passing, again, bizarreo lines of dialogue when Russell says, well, at least

least the Irish people were paid. Just mind-boggling. I think it sucks that they made a kid say that. I know. And then you have Bonnie Lopez who we can presume, because we have to presume, because the movie doesn't give us any more information. Right. But we could potentially presume that she is Latina based on her last name and and her father who we meet at the end it seems like she is like a first generation American but that's all we know and we only know that at the very end oh and I think that they're also kind of trafficking in some cultural stereotypes around immigrant parents there too because Bonnie is there's a lot of pressure on her to go to med school there's a lot of pressure on her to excel she kind of implies at multiple points in the movie that like if she doesn't do

while in school her parents were going to be, or her dad specifically is going to be very upset with her, which is, you know, like just a stereotype around immigrant parents in the U.S. writ large. For sure. That is presented with absolutely no nuance because we don't know anything about her family. It's like a shock. I was honestly shocked we met her father at all. Same. Yeah.

And he's truly on screen for 15 seconds at the very end of the movie. In what I found to be ultimately a kind of depressing interaction. because first of all, the movie does not tell us that Bonnie actually wants to play basketball, and then at the end she gets to. But it's only sort of through deception. Well, yeah, it's because Riley O'Reilly is like, hey, Bonnie's dad, you need to let her play so that she can get an internship or a scholarship or whatever at my potato factory. So let her play basketball.

And then he's like, oh, great, okay, I'll let her do that now. And then Bonnie says, whatever you say, dad, and you're like, ooh, that's bleak. Like that, you know, she's like, I don't think that relationship was improved at all. So, yeah, I don't know. There's also a lot of references to like American individualism and, you know, implying that. And I think that this is like, again, where like the heritage messaging gets a little muddled is like, I think there's a specific line of dialogue that I have so many notes. I can't find it.

There's a specific line of dialogue that, like, references where it's like, and it is a sort of satirical line of dialogue because it's before we find out he's Irish, the reveal. But that, like, America is a place where you can really be an individual. Who cares about your heritage? I think it's something that his dad says. Yes, I think so. But I don't think that the movie really does a lot to push back on the fact that it's very possible to be an individual in other cultures. it's sort of presented as like America is the only place you can be a distinct individual and other cultures are so all-consuming that if you engage with them even a little you will shrink a foot or sprout a beard or like begin dancing uncontrollably.

And so like being American is presented as the norm. The cure to your lepricon disease. Yeah. So yeah. there's just like this is ultimately in a movie that is supposed to be about Ireland it is way more about America yes and about American understanding of other cultures and I think it is kind of like an interesting case study there because it's like like most like American propagandistic systems like it's only interested in presenting broad stereotypes and saying we're fine with this but ultimately

you're American right which is why I think part of why and also just because I assume this movie was made in 45 minutes, why the actual facts about Irish culture are, you know, there are facts there. There's other facts sort of half there. And then there's just broad stereotypes presented all alongside each other, really hard to distinguish, especially if you're a kid watching this, distinguishing what's real and what isn't. For sure. Because it is like being Irish means you could be a leprechaun. That was sort of my take. away. It's not really pushed back on that there is just Irish people. Right. Yeah, because I think every, well, okay, it seems as though Riley O'Reilly has hired nothing but Irish expats slash immigrants to work in his potato

factory. Right, which does make all Irish people seem deceptive and evil, also not a great vibe. But it's also like, well, are they also leprechaun? Like the movie, again, the world building is, we have no idea. I think it is implied via Seamus that any Irish person has the ability to become a lepricon. And it also kind of gets a little bit eugenicsy because they're like, oh, well, Kyle's not full Irish so he can only become half leprechaun. And you're like, I'm not loving how Mathie we're getting with this. It's, again, this is nothing the movie is intending to do. The movie is just, I think, intending to come out on time. But it is interesting the kind of crutches they use to accomplish that, I guess.

I wonder if there were like white children in 2001 and beyond. We were two of them who saw this movie and perhaps felt seen by the Ryan, by the Kyle character, not knowing and like, being curious about his cultural identity and heritage, but not really knowing anything about it. But other than that, like— I think that that's what the movie ultimately kind of does that felt unique to me was acknowledge this kind of, I think, pretty common, but not often acknowledged truth that, like—and I think that that is like a tool of colonialism is if you are completely—you know, if you as a white American—a white American are completely— are completely estranged from your culture of origin and encouraged to believe that you are just American.

You are therefore encouraged to believe that America belongs to you. Yes. So I think it is like it is a tool of colonialism to estrange anyone from their culture, but it's kind of like this different pernicious thing with white cultures specifically. Yeah, for sure. And also this movie doesn't care about women, obviously.

They said women suck and they're boring. Bonnie, Bonnie, I'm curious. It did remind me a bit about how, I mean, because Disney Channel, decoms very often have a little romance. To the point where it felt curious that the, what I think would ordinarily be a romance between Kyle and Bonnie was not expanded upon a little more. And I wonder, I don't know, I just, I'm putting that out there because there is, you know, the further you go back in time, the more.

there is to showing an interracial romantic interest. And I can't think of a ton of decoms where that happens. I'm not stating that that's what's happening here. It also could just be that the movie is a mess. But I did want to shout that out. And also that Bonnie, as with any, many women characters seems to only care about what happens to Kyle. She has no life out.

The one thing we know about her is that she's very smart. She's in charge of a lot of extracurricular clubs. But it doesn't appear that she has any friends because I wouldn't, for much of the movie, describe her and Kyle as friends. It seems like there's kind of an antagonistic relationship. But we don't really see her talk to anybody else. She sort of just walks out of the ether and is like, Kyle, are you Irish or not?

Her whole function in the story, yeah, is to support Kyle's, journey that he's going on. Journey to being Irish, which is like so silly. And again, it just, there are small, as with most of these movies, small modifications to the story that include Bonnie being like, for example, like it still can be Kyle's story, but like, how would it not help the story for her to say, like, for example, this is my connection to my culture and I find it very affirming. It's very important to me. I like blah, blah, blah, blah, get specific about it. That helps tell the story. So it just feels like this weird void where like, you know, to speculate, a white writer doesn't know anything about any cultures that aren't their own and didn't even bother

to research it for the sake of this character. Same goes for Russell. Really any character. And also, frankly, same goes for Kyle because there's really not a lot of Irish information in the story. There's a lot of stuff. Just a lot of either conflation or like things

that your average American associates with Irish culture such as leprechauns, pots of gold at the end of a rainbow, the color green. Like the amount of green in the production design in this movie is

astonishing. Which I mean again this is like in the same way that DCOMs had like a Hanukkah movie capital age. This is the St. Patrick's Day movie I think just because they didn't have one and so it feels very rushy

and very like what do people like it's more presenting the commercial holiday versus anything else because I mean and there is you know like leprechauns are a bit of Irish folklore for sure. In American media they're presented, it seems like, pretty incorrectly.

Oh, yeah. I did a little bit of, did you do some lepricon research? A little bit. They're wearing red most of the time. They're not even usually wearing green. This is correct. I did a little bit of research and I mean, suffice it to say that everything we see, a lot of what we see in this movie is either a stereotype or an oversimplification of it or just like flat out incorrect. I've, forgot to say that part of my just general history with Irish culture in Ireland

is that I also have been to Ireland a couple of times, mostly to do comedy. And to go to see Titanic-related things. Because I went to Northern Ireland, which I know is a different country than Ireland, just so listeners know that I know the distinction. I went to Belfast to visit the Titanic Museum, of course. But also when I was in Dublin, I went to the National Lepricon Museum of Ireland.

And I will say that I forgot everything I learned because it was seven years ago. So I don't really, didn't really retain. But I remember learning a lot about Irish folklore, folklore specific to leprechauns, how it's almost always misrepresented in popular media. So, yeah, I found it very interesting. Yeah, again, this movie's representation of leprechauns, you know, it's, I would say, not super accurate. Safe to say. And it's like, again, it's just, it's the Disney-Fide version of it.

But like also something even weirder than that. And I can't really under, I don't understand what the hell's going on. D-COMs were, look, say what you will, because so most of them are bad, but there is a lawlessness. to a decom that I find very nostalgically appealing where like they were doing whatever they were doing whatever

and just throwing they said here's your slop kids and we were loving here's the spaghetti slash weird glass noodle dish that's surrounded by romaine lettuce in an enormous bowl

throw it against the wall and see what sticks eat up bitch and like we and I was eating up I was slurping it up and loving it. And so was acclaimed genius Ryan Coogler. So look, I'm glad that Mr. Cooleer brought this to our attention. I would be really curious how he felt on a rewatch.

I did want to just share, because we've got to wrap up, but I just want to share, I read an interview with a screenwriter that was like refreshingly honest. I believe Andrew Price is his name. This was an interview online from a while ago where he basically admits he did no research. So he's asked, the movie centers on heritage. Is that an aspect of life you feel strongly about? And he says, I used his search for heritage as a jumping off point for what I hoped to be a more personal story. After reading my first draft, my wife kept trying to convince me I was writing about a boy discovering and coming to terms with being gay.

I was more interested in a boy who has to rediscover himself. Since I'm not a leprechaun, I needed to find, this is such a weird interview. He's like, it's not about being gay. I'm not a leprechaun. Since I'm not a leprechaun, I needed to find something about Kyle that I could relate to and make personal. Not to harp on my own life experience, but for me, high school was very easy, but college was like an ice bath. I wanted Kyle to have those personal feelings of security, followed by confusion alienation in fear culminating in a newfound confidence and joy. So I think that was his way of

saying I do not feel struggling about heritage at all. I'm not gay and I'm not a leprechaun. And so that's interesting. A follow-up question. I love the character detail that Riley O'Reilly invented potato chips. How much research into Irish history and folklore did you do? The writer replies, I did a little research into the culture, read books, and watched some Irish dancing, as well as ate some of the food. However, I didn't want to feel hemmed in by mythology and wanted my story to come from my own imagination. I used what I read as color, but didn't go too deeply into actual folklore. So if there was any question, he was like, I read a book and I ate a piece of cabbage and I watched river dance. And then I was kind of like,

I get it. And then he just freeform jazzed all over Ireland. Since I'm not a leopard, which I think is his way of saying since I'm not Irish. He's just since I'm not a leprechaun. So it's just like, I don't know. I don't know. And then there is. And then the interview ends like, have you written another movie since this? And he's like, no, no one wants them for some reason.

It's funny. It's funny. Men are awesome. In my research about leprechauns, I learned that, and listeners from Ireland, please share your experience with this. But I learned that a not insignificant number of Irish people believe in lepracons currently or believe they once existed in the past. Okay. So Irish listeners sound off. Yeah.

Is this accurate? Are we? Yeah. And and if you do believe in leprechauns, tell us more about it. I'm open. I'm open to being swayed. I believe in all sorts of shit. Yeah, we, we, you know, many of us believe in, I'm a tourist, therefore I'm, I'm stubborn. And also I like to lie down a lot on a comfy bed. It's true. It's true. I've seen it. So, you know. So it doesn't pass the Bechtel test. And I wouldn't even say it comes close. There is one exchange that I noticed between women that was like a teacher that's like the science teacher talking to a student that randomly gets a name and we learn about magnets and that becomes relevant later. So I would have been able, I would have given it a pass as a relevant exchange of dialogue, but we don't know what the teacher's name is.

True. And I entirely forgot about that conversation. So if it's not a very memorable moment, I'm not too sure about that. It's a nice try. I was going to say nice try, but obviously they weren't trying. Not a try at all. Yeah, like, I mean, Kyle's mom, who it does have a name, Kate, and Bonnie will appear here and there throughout the story. Sometimes there will be like plot relevant things. say that they're both important characters. They are, but then they'll also get jettisoned out of the main action of this story for large swaths of it. So, not doing a great job there.

Yeah, the movie does not pass the Bechtel test. What about our nipple scale, though? Our scale, God. Our scale where we rate the movie, zero to five nipples based on examining it through an intersectional feminist lens. I'm going to give it a half nipple. Like it's not Maybe a nipple

I don't know I'm going to give it one Because women are in it Right Women are in it And it's trying to say something About being proud of your cultural heritage

But it's also saying a lot about how But if you're American That's the most important thing And go go go America America number one I'd be very curious If that is something That appeared in the first draft

or if that was like a Disney-fied element. I'm always very curious about how these, because like media for children is so deliberate in that way. Right. I would love to see a second interview with this writer where he's like, first of all, I'm not a leprechaun. Second of all. Second of all, college was really hard.

That interview is so iconic to me where it was like a pretty long interview. And I'm like, this guy is like, the lights are not on. Amazing that he has a produced screenwriting credit and like, like three women in history do um awesome bleak um anyways yeah so one nipple uh you know all the things we talked about and i will give my nipple to leprechauns i'm gonna give it one nipple and i'm gonna give the nipple to i think just the plot point that the grandfather leprechaun is shackle to a basketball hoop. That is like such a funny detail that clearly no one in the movie knows what to do with.

We cannot decide if we can actually see him or not. Sometimes we can. The entire gymnasium decides this game is so important that it doesn't matter if there's an old man shackled to the away team's basketball hoop or not. And that is very Santa University coded to me. I really appreciate that that they're like, we don't know what to do with. it so it just is take it or leave it and i'm taking it no i'm taking it's a very i'm claiming it's a very brave storytelling choice yes well there you have it listeners for more movies that are about ireland slash irish people slash maybe leprechaunx yeah refer to our matrion this month

because we're covering a few more yes please join us in celebrating, well, it depends. We're going to give you a charcutory board. If you're already a matron, you already know. We're doing both movies written and directed by Irish artists and movies that are about Ireland and may or may not do better than the movie we discussed today. But once again, well, actually, I guess I'm giving,

I'm going to take back my nipple from Bonnie, sorry Bonnie, and give it to Ryan Coogler, who made this episode possible. Thank you for, making interviews fun to watch. And we've already covered sinners on the show, so you can listen to that. We've covered Black Panther. So plenty of cougler on the pod. You can, yeah, find us over on the Matrion or on Instagram.

And with that, shall we go to the end of the rainbow and then engage in ancient warfare? Yes. Awesome. Bye. Okay. Bye. The podcast is a production of IHeart Media, hosted and produced by me, Jamie Loftus. And me, Caitlin Durante. The podcast is also produced by Sophie Lichtenen.

And edited by Caitlin Durante. Ever heard of them? That's me. And our logo and merch and all of our artwork, in fact, are designed by Jamie Loftus, ever heard of her? Oh my God. And our theme song, by the way, was composed by Mike Kaplan. With vocals by Catherine Voskrasinski. iconic and a special thanks to the one and only Aristotle Acevedo. For more information about the podcast, please visit Linktree slash Bechtelcast. I'm Clayton Eckerd. In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him.

If I could press a button and rewind it all I would. That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one-night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young.

Listen to Love Trapped on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Next Monday, our 2026 IHeart Podcast Awards are happening live in South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past. year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. And the winner is... Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much.

Iheart Radio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific free at Veeps.com or the Veeps app. Hey, I'm Jay Chetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Hillary Duff, singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist. You desire in family like this picture, and that's not reality. My sister and I don't speak.

It's definitely a very painful part of my life. And I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy. that gripped the UK in 2023. But what if we didn't get the whole story? Evidence has been made to fit. The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed.

What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe? Oh my God, I think she might be innocent. Listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Lettby on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Joe Interesting, host of the Spirit Daughter podcast, where we talk about astrology, natal charts, how to step into your most vibrant life. And today I'm talking with my dear friend, Krista Williams.

It can change you in the best way possible. Dance with the change. Dance with the breakdowns. The embodiment of Pisces intuition with Capricorn power moves. So I'm like delusionally proud of my chart. Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast starting on February 24th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.