Of the film's humor, Wilmington wrote that "Leprechaun" "isn't dumb enough to be fun". Hicks described the film's humor as "ill-advised slapstick", and Canby wrote that it is "neither scary nor funny". Berardinelli called the leprechaun's one-liners "more idiotic than pithy". Writing in the "Chicago Sun-Times", critic Jeff Makos unfavorably compared the film's tone to that of "Tremors", which he posited as an influence. Makos said Davis does his best to be funny, but the film has no funny jokes, making audience feedback probably more entertaining than the film itself. The use of Lucky Charms as humor also received commentary. Harrington wrote that Jones is "so bereft of inventive ideas that he refers to Lucky Charms cereal not once but three times", and Bourjaily criticized the Lucky Charms jokes as unfunny.