When I was growing up I saw a whole slew of ninja, martial arts and kung fu movies. Generally speaking they weren't really my favorite but my younger brother couldn't get enough of them. He loved them so much; he even made a short ninja movie for a school project. To this day, ninja movies aren't really my thing but I can certainly appreciate them. Now, Irish American Ninja isn't your typical ninja movie, it's more of a comedy spoof (in the loosest of definitions) that happens to have people dressed like ninjas. Let me say up front that I tend to require a lot of intelligence, timing and some wit when it comes to my comedies. Unfortunately, this one fell a little short of the mark for me. My younger brother, who never met a spoof he didn't like, would probably love it, but then again he moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. So, I guess you'll have to decide for yourself.

All George McGoogle ever wanted to be was a ninja. From the time he saw his first ninja movie at the tender age of four until he visits Japan to start his training, he dreamed of the day he'd be a ninja warrior. George has had a traumatic life and the thought of beating people to a pulp or killing ants was the only thing that brought him any comfort. He lost his brother and his father in a horrible steamroller accident when he was very young and was known to be a fairly quiet but violent boy. As he moves through his ninja training, we get to see his skills improve. You know there's no other way to show that but a montage. So we get a montage full of George breaking various fruits and melons on his head and tons of kicking and mugging.

Now that George's training is complete he learns that the ninjas in black are evil and it's now his job to fight them. It doesn't take long for him to find a couple of them to start with. He does pretty well at first but the very last ninja is the toughest of them all. George soon finds himself on his back and ready to die with honor. As a show of respect, the black ninja decides to remove his mask and show his face to his worthy opponent. George can hardly believe it when it turns out to be his very own brother! He quickly removes his mask and the brothers have themselves a hug. Now doesn't that make you smile? The newly united brothers have a great time doing all sorts of brotherly things until the day comes when Gertrude (yes, it's a girls name) has to move on. He sends George a letter saying he's been called away to extensive jury duty and won't be able to visit with George anymore. Heartbroken and depressed, George goes back to America to become a film actor and to ask his mother why she lied about Gertrude having died. As it turns out Gertrude murdered their Father for giving him a girls name and left to start a new life in Japan. Now, George has no choice but avenge his Father by killing Gertrude. If he can't find Gertrude he'll do the next best thing and try to become a movie star!

I could go on for another couple of paragraphs but I think you get a good enough idea. The movie meanders more than a little between the point where George discovers that his Father was murdered and the ending. I got the distinct impression that the makers had a very short concept for this movie, George's training, the death of his father, and killing his brother to avenge his father. I think it left a lot of time to fill and I don't think they filled that time very well. The whole movie is filmed as if George is being interviewed, almost documentary style. So we go through some flashbacks with questions from the interviewer until we catch up to present day. The works here are intermixed with interviews from the people who know George the best. The life of George McGoogle is as hard as you'd expect an Irish ninja's life to be and let me tell you, not all of it is pretty.

The real problem I had with this movie was the stroyline itself. The creators of this movie didn't bother to develop one. With the lack of story for structure, there was absolutely nothing to lead you from one scene to another as the tale fumbled along to its pitiful conclusion. The result was a main character that I couldn't care less about if I tried. Within ten minutes of this movie I was already sick to death of George McGoogle and his adventures. The whole movie had a disconnected feeling to it and I think in an attempt to be original with the gags, the movie ended up with an adolescent silliness that just left me feeling annoyed. The movie was made for fans of martial arts movies and I think that they would have done better to spoof any one of the classics in particular. The filmmakers could have possibly reached the audience that they were hoping to reach and it might have given the movie some sense of structure.

Unfortunately, in the end this film comes across as a waste of perfectly good production value. The copy that I have is labeled the Ass Kicking Special Edition and includes a soundtrack featuring Wally Pleasant. On a whole I think the soundtrack suited the movie, though at times it sounded a little like something you'd here in a 70's porno. Special features include a trailer, deleted scenes, commentary track, and a behind the scenes segment.

On a whole this movie wasn't something that I would pick up on my own. In truth, I would have avoided it as if it came with anthrax in the box. It's a sin that the people who made this movie didn't care enough about it to write a solid story for it, especially considering that they took the time to make it look halfway decent. There were times that the jokes were cute and almost brushed up against cleverness but for the most part the jokes seemed forced and feeble. If they were intended to make up for the lack of direction and motivation in the movie, they failed miserably. As for me, I'm hoping to put Irish American Ninja on my shelf and forget about it.