dir. Rob Spera
An evil leprechaun (Warwick Davis) pursues a group of aspiring rappers to retrieve his magical flute. No, of course it’s not meant to be taken seriously, and this fifth outing in the Leprechaun franchise does earn the occasional genuine chuckle. But unfortunately, it’s not quite self-aware enough to pull off everything. The “hood” culture conveyed, with copious joints and jewellery, could be intended as a spoof of blaxploitation. But with Ice T spewing lines like, “You just dumb like your mamas, I gotta come over there and bitch slap you like I used to do her”, it feels more like the actors are being legitimately blaxploited. The film generally believes humour can be mined by making fun of entire demographics, including black people, women, Chinese people, trans people, and religious people. And with Warwick Davis prancing around spewing rhymes in a pseudo-Irish accent, denizens of the Emerald Isle don’t fare too well either. Perhaps it’s a product of its time, but there’s not enough gold in this pot to warrant journeying to the end of the rainbow.
