Do you believe in luck? This is the time of year to follow the rainbow to your pot of gold (or corned beef, whatever your preference). Netflix has tons of options in every genre for those who believe in picking up pennies and taking a chance on the lottery. It’s also a great time to embrace all things Irish, and Netflix isn’t short on Irish-themed movies either, lucky for us.
For some feel-good, luck-based movies on Netflix, start with It Could Happen to You. Nicolas Cage plays a policeman who runs a little short on cash and can’t tip his waitress, so he says she can have half his lottery ticket winnings if he wins, and he does. In Paycheck, things don’t immediately go so well for code-breaker Ben Affleck, but luck is on his side. For the comedy-lover, check out Good Luck Chuck, with Dane Cook and Jessica Alba, about a man who can’t seem to find the right girl, but whose ex-girlfriends all find their right match, right after dating him. For a blast of nostalgia, check out pre-crazy Lindsay Lohan and pre-chiseled Chris Pine in Just My Luck, a romantic comedy about a lucky girl who seems to give her incredible luck away to someone else with a party kiss.
For more laughs, check out stand-up comedy with Morgan Murphy: Irish Goodbye. If you aren’t familiar with what an Irish goodbye is (something my sister does constantly), you will be after you see this.
If you are more into horror flicks, stay with the monthly theme and watch the Leprechaun series. Kind of scary, and yet cheesy as all hell, Netflix has all of these right now.
On a more serious note, learn something about Irish history with movies such as Angela’s Ashes, based on the famed Frank McCourt Pulitzer-winning memoir about growing up in poverty and moving to New York as an Irish man in the ’30s and ’40s. Bloody Sunday is another incredible film, chronicling the 1972 shooting of 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march in Derry. For a more uplifting story, take the time to watch My Left Foot. In one of Daniel Day-Lewis’ most notable roles, he plays Christy Brown, a man from an Irish family who was born with cerebral palsy and relies on his desire and determination to learn to paint and write with his left foot. The Wind that Shakes the Barley, one of the highest-grossing Irish independent films, is also available. This war drama depicts a man who joins the IRA after a friend is killed.
If you don’t feel like sitting through a movie, there are plenty of TV show options, as well. Recently available is the first season of the Full House spinoff, Fuller House, which I may need to add to my agenda – just to see if it stands a chance.
By Jennifer Russo