Some movies overplay/over-do certain elements to make viewers feel emotional - cheesy lines, music and others. I've read a review which used a word to convey this pithily but I can't seem to remember for the life of me!
An example would be: I'm not sure I want to see the new movie. It is XXX.
Edit: added sample sentence.
I like the word mawkish
sentimental in an exaggerated or false way.
The Best Of Me, film review: Terminally mawkish tearjerker is hard to stomach
Much of the dialogue for this terminally mawkish tearjerker sounds as if it has been taken directly from a Dolly Parton or Whitney Houston song ...
mawkish (adj.) 1660s, "sickly, nauseated," from Middle English mawke "maggot". Sense of "sickly sentimental" is first recorded 1702.
'Melodramatic' - most commonly used for movies where emotions interspersed with exaggerated characters, cheesy lines, catchy music and background scores are used to create sensations.
"It makes me sick when movies with unrealistic and melodramatic endings become huge hits."
Others words can be - saccharine, sugary, maudlin, sloshy, sloppy, rabble-rousing
Oh, come on! It's a tearjerker!!
a story, song, play, film, or broadcast that moves or is intended to move its audience to tears
Perhaps the word you are looking for is schmaltz:-
- Informal
a. Excessively sentimental art or music.
b. Maudlin sentimentality.
[American Heritage Dictionary]
How about corny? I have used it to talk about movies that are sappy, too sentimental, or try hard to make you feel something. It's a bit dated but still works.
More technical terms would include "emotionally manipulative" and "sentimental."
More informal terms, however, would stretch from "cheesy" to "sappy."
There are so many specialized words for this though, you can even find words that hone in on what particular emotion the movie is milking--sad, happy, heartwarming, etc.
I would also compare cloying, from cloy (v):
To cause distaste or disgust by supplying with too much of something originally pleasant, especially something rich or sweet; surfeit. [source: AHD]
For example, used in this New York Times review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996):
Or so it often seems during "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," the latest and most uncertain of Disney's animated efforts, with its manic mood swings and cloying, none-too-cuddly hero.
Contrived
Definition:
Adjective 1. obviously planned or forced; artificial; strained:
Use in a sentence:
A contrived story.
Another word commonly used in reviews is Camp which according to M-W means:
"style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture"
In this case however the emotion being invoked is frequently humor or nostalgia through over the top references to other eras, styles, cliches, etc. Many movies fit this criteria, a couple examples would be Expendables 2 and Thankskilling
Do you mean cliche?
from wikipedia:
A cliché or cliche (/ˈkliːʃeɪ/ or /klɪˈʃeɪ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being trite or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel.
