Movie Review: Psych 3: This is Gus (2021)

Synopsis: Not wanting to disappoint his mother by having a baby out of wedlock Gus, is planning to marry his pregnant girlfriend, Selene, but her previous marriage is putting things on hold until she can locate her husband and get a divorce. Shawn tries to help but accidentally discovers Selene doesn't really exist and he and Gus try to find out who she is and what she is hiding.

Who's in it? The movie stars James Roday Rodriguez, Dulé Hill, Timothy Omundson, Maggie Lawson, Jazmyn Simon and Kirsten Nelson.

Review: This has been on my watch list for a few months and, now that I have a subscription to Peacock, I was finally able to sit down at watch it.

Whenever there is a movie (or movie sequel) based on a popular television show, it tends to do one of two things. It either makes you miss the series, or it reminds you why it was time to take the series off the air in the first place. This movie accomplishes both of those things.

I thought the mystery surrounding Selene (Simon) was an interesting one. She had done a great job convincing Gus (Hill) and everyone else she was a perfectly normal person and, since she was already an established character from the previous movie, it made Shawn's (Rodriguez) discovery all that much more impactful. I also liked how it wasn't a misunderstanding (as I thought it would be), though Selene still turned out not to be a bad person.

I also liked how the movie once again managed to give Carlton Lassiter (Omundson) a significant enough amount of screen time to still keep him as an important character, writing the side effects from Omundson's stroke a few years ago into the script. His emotional realization his law enforcement career was likely over was something I honestly wasn't expecting from a comedy, and I have to say I really loved his daughter (Sophia Reid-Gantzert), though I was a bit disappointed Kristy Swanson didn't at least make a cameo as his wife.

That being said, while I did like the case and thought the film had some memorable moments (especially when Selene goes into labor toward the end), the movie (much like some of the later episodes) did lack the same magic that made this series fun to watch. Some of the slapstick stuff between Shawn and Gus, for example, was a bit too drawn out (I thought that bathroom fight would never end). 

I'm also starting to wonder when, exactly, Shawn completely gave up on pretending to be a psychic. Other than one scene, that aspect of his character seemed to be completely forgotten. In fact, his overall detective skills weren't even on display all that much. He used a MacGyver-like trick to find a partial address in Selene's wallet and noticed a spot on an apartment ceiling an average detective probably would have spotted. There might have been something else I'm missing, but that's probably because it wasn't anything memorable.

I also thought the movie left a few loose ends. For example, Lassiter came to grips with his limitations, but the murder suspect he was trying to arrest still walked away. Plus, that whole baby discussion between Shawn and Juliet (Lawson), which seemed forced to begin with, was just dropped. Not to mention, what about Chief Vick (Nelson) and her family? One moment she is regretting the time she's not spending with them and then we don't hear anything else about them. Maybe they plan on addressing those things in a fourth film?

Final Opinion: The movie does have some weak points and unresolved conflicts that maybe could have been left out completely but, overall, I did find I liked it. If nothing else, it has me wanting to re-watch the series and likely will result in me watching the fourth movie, if there is one.

My Grade: B-