effortful

For all that, the performances were nonetheless on the stiff side, the famously virtuosic orchestra effortfully coming to terms with the unfamiliar.

The film is a feat of maximalist and moody production design and cinematography, but the tedious and overwrought script renders every character two-dimensional, despite the effortful acting and teary pronunciations.

Either they’re not actually funny, or they get too in their head about being perceived as funny as they think they are, and the result is a guest-host turn that feels too effortful.

It is an effortfully attractive place with well-kept painted brick homes and clipped lawns.

She has worked, effortfully, to capture the voice and the pose, even if the film fails her in terms of rapture.