mawkish, maudlin, cliched, hackneyed, overwrought, sappy, stagey, schmaltzy, histrionic, trite, overfamiliar, formulaic, treacly, cloying, stagy, saccharine, hokey, overdetermined, overdramatic, overlong, bathetic, talky, pantomimic, comical, banal, grand guignol, florid, preachy, pretentious, campy, slapstick, portentous, unaffecting, corny, cheesy, hammy, melancholic, believable, lyrical, didactic, tearjerking, hitchcockian, melancholy, operatic, poetic, elegiac, weepy, pedantic, opera buffa, lachrymose, parodic, incantatory, shakespearean, suspenseful, seriocomic, lugubrious, sententious, tragicomic, absurdist, nabokovian, declamatory, syrupy, pulpier, poignant, allegorical, leaden, revelatory, dislikable, cinematic, riveting, droll, tragi, filmic, hysterical, digressive, melismatic, toneless, farcical, reductive, melodic, soppy, bombastic, nuanced, engrossing, tuneful, hilarious, novelistic, moody, morose, moralistic, lunkheaded, ponderous, shavian, unentertaining, naturalistic, sophoclean, dostoevskian, hummable, sardonic, amusing, expository, nihilistic, comedic, surrealistic, comic, macabre, picaresque, humorous, surreal, tragic, burlesque, thrilling, tragical, pathetic, expressionistic

dame daphne du maurier, daphne du maurier, dime novel, du maurier, penny dreadful

dramatic, theatrical