Synopsis
In 500 B.C., the leader of the Murphy clan insults a Druid sorcerer. For his trouble, the Druid casts a curse on the Murphys for all eternity. Every other generation, the eldest male Murphy child will be saddled with the worst luck on earth.
2,500 years later, Alan Murphy is born during a rare summertime hailstorm. As the child grows up, it becomes painfully obvious to his parents that little Alan is the one, the carrier of Druid curse.
Alan enters high school and his luck gets progressively worse. He develops a close friendship with a loser named Gherk and falls in love with a classmate named Audrey. Not wanting Audrey to be saddled with bad luck, Alan's love for her remains secret.
Alan and Gherk join the regular poker game in the high school locker room. Word of Alan's bad luck spreads and he acquires the nickname "Cloud". Students begin to pay Gherk to watch Cloud play. The boys use the money to bet on football games but, over the course of the season, Cloud picks sixty-eight losers in a row.
Cloud meets his grandfather who tells him that there is one way to break the curse - win something. A bet, a contest, a coin flip, anything. But the old man warns Cloud not to try, it will just cause him more pain. Cloud learns that "Murphy's Law" was named after his grandfather.
After graduation, Audrey goes off to college and Gherk gets a job as a mechanic. Cloud gets fired from job after job, causing one workplace disaster after another.
In college, Audrey studies statistics and starts a romantic relationship with a snobby rich kid named Royce. During the holidays, Audrey returns home with Royce and introduces him to Cloud at a bar. A series of misfortunes lead to a bar fight and Royce deserts Audrey.
Cloud reveals his true feelings to Audrey and she admits she always felt the same way. Cloud and Audrey make love but both condoms break and Audrey becomes pregnant with quadruplets.
Audrey comes up with a plan to use Cloud's guaranteed bad luck to its best advantage. Together with Cloud, Gherk, and Gherk's girlfriend Ethel, they concoct a plan for Cloud to bet one dollar on a football team while they bet everything they have on the opponent.
The plan works but ultimately backfires as the bookmakers decide not to pay and have Cloud et al all erased so they won't divulge that the bookmakers are welshers.
Cloud and his friends escape to Atlantic City where Audrey has another brainstorm: have Cloud bet on black and red at the roulette table while they bet on zero and double zero, the green numbers.
This scheme works and, over time, they all become wealthy. Cloud and Audrey get married and raise the Quads. Cloud's frustration grows, however, as he becomes more and more reclusive, reluctant to leave the confines of the hotel and casino.
One of the hotels starts a "World's Unluckiest Man" contest, one that Cloud surely can win. Audrey and Cloud's grandfather try to talk Cloud out of entering, but his mind is made up. When he wins, the curse will be broken.
But an unusual turn of events make the outcome truly unexpected.
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