Too much of everything

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Was a big fan of the series, but it appears the three year hiatus has thrown the Psych Gang off their game. The whole thing was disjointed, overacted, poorly written and the chemistry that existed during series was missing. The entire plot appeared "forced" as was the performance--especially Roday's.The "development" of Corbin Bernsen as Henry Spencer is just an example of how the entire production was trying to hard to not repeat the TV series. During the show Henry was always the voice of reason, now he's turned San Franciscan hippy with no real explanation. There was no reason to change anything about Henry, but for some reason the producers of this movie felt it was necessary.The "also starring" characters were confusing and poorly brought into the fold. There was just too much back-story missing about them, making the overall plot even harder to follow.Overall the entire movie was just a mess. If the plan is to do at least five more of these, then the writers and producers need to go back and re-watch the series and rediscover what made it special, then incorporate it into the next movie. If there's any hope, the next one cannot be any worse than this one. At least I hope not!Lastly, it was a shame Timothy Omundson wasn't involved, and hopefully he has recovered from his health issues and will return in future Psych movies! "Lassie" balanced the show and brought a Dirty Harry vs. Sledgehammer aspect to the show. Omundson was badly missed, his cameo was a nice salute to his character but he really needs to be more a part of the plot. Unfortunately that wasn't possible for this movie (and I am not even sure if he could save this wreck), but it will be a bad omen if he doesn't join in on future efforts!

I'm going to sound a bit like some of the others who've written about Psych: The Movie - it was great seeing the gang back together, but the end result left me disappointed. The plot here barely matters as the movie is more about bringing back as many old characters as possible. And because of that, there's often too much going on. There are too many sub-threads that aren't needed and only serve to confuse the issue. Ralph Macchio - unnecessary. John Cena - unnecessary. Corbin Bernsen - (I can't believe I'm saying this) unnecessary. Even the reveal of an old returning baddie (which I won't spoil) - unnecessary and unrecognizable. The big exception to this was Jimmi Simpson as Mary. I always enjoyed his character and here, he adds something fun to the film.The thing that I always enjoyed the most about Psych was the chemistry between James Roday and Dule Hill. Ask anyone who was a fan - it's what made the show special. And while there are some nice moments between Shawn and Gus, not all of it works. There are times where the comedy feels forced. It lacks that natural flow that made the show special. You've heard the expression that it's hard to catch lightning in a bottle, well, it's even harder to catch it twice. Other shows have tried and generally failed and, unfortunately, Psych is no different. Psych: The Movie gets a lot of points for nostalgia. A couple of other parts I really got a kick out of were Gus' new stalker-girlfriend (especially when she mentioned Bud from the Cosby Show) and the final scene. Overall, though, a wishy-washy 5/10 from me.

Eight seasons and a movie, as the saying almost goes. Psych returns with a holiday special which I was looking forward to, being a fan of the show for how well it does what it does. It is mostly a welcome return, although it is affected by the pressure to be an event, and also a bit of a lack of confidence in its own fundamentals. As a result the movie is really very busy at times - too many tick box characters showing up to not do enough. It is nice to see so many of the cast back, but at the same time there is a lot of shoe-horning in there and maybe it would have worked better if it had been more focused and kept supporting characters' time down.The plot itself isn't great, but it provides a decent enough frame for the duo to be themselves. Mostly this is enough, although it doesn't quite have the spark and freshness that it once did - again a feeling added to by weight and baggage of the characters. There are some nice laughs and enjoyable sections, certainly enough for fans who are just happy for new material - but it is far from classic Psych and it does make it feel like it needed a tighter hand to make it happen the way it needed to. The cast are all on reasonable form - although Roday and Hill don't quite gel as they have in the past, and the rest of the cast feel too present but without enough material - Fuller has a high hit rate though, but Bernsen didn't need to be there, and Omundson is hard to watch even though it is a nice gesture by the film.All told it is a so-so movie, which is patchy but offers enough to justify fans watching. If they do another I will be there for that, but will be hoping that it can be a better product than this.

OK, maybe this one would be better titled a "bias" review.You see, the TV show had this thing where it made me laugh out loud at least once an episode. At LEAST. And honestly, there aren't that many shows that have really made me laugh out loud.And then, well, James Roday and Dulé Hill are just brilliant together, hands down the best comedic duo I've seen in a VERY long time.So...walking into this, well, I had high expectations and, I kind of already knew I was going to love it...Except...Timothy Omundson, breaks the heart about his stroke and he was missed, a lot, because, yeah, he was hysterical too.And, as in the the TV show, the only week part is really Maggie Lawson and that's not her fault, she just...the straight one. She does a good job, but with Roday and Hill sharing scenes with her, it's hard for her to get out of those shadows.Still, "Shawn stop talking," she has her moments.And the same pretty much stands for this movie as well. Everyone is hysterical, Roday and Hill play off one another to great effect, and poor Lawson is stuck playing it straight while Corbin, Fuller, and the rest get to ham it up until, well, until you're laughing.Really, they came back without missing a beat. It was like they were all made for their roles.AND...did I mention it was funny, like really funny? Isn't that the most important part? I laughed out loud again. It was hysterical, just like the show and...just reminded me how much I missed it.So funny that there were scenes you just had to rewind a few times.Just so funny and, with shows like this, that is all that matters.It was really like seeing old friends again.