And while the presumption that a woman can be either brainy or beautiful, or in this case, good or thin, but not both, is a bit primitive, the series has humor and charm beneath its facile message, in large part (no disrespect intended) to a subtle, winning performance by Ms. Elliott.
It is a ridiculously facile message, but, for millions of Americans who feel like things are not so great, it is the one they have longed to hear.
The movie's clear and brisk aesthetic matches the strong and facile sentimentality of its message.
The campaign has little organization, nor is there any one discernible message or facile idea to which voters might attach themselves, like Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax plan.
As all moviegoers know, the film industry and its distribution arms are facile at delivering whatever message it wants to get across -- from the coming attractions and PSAs that regularly precede the feature films, to the heartfelt holiday-time appeals that have us digging into our pockets for spare change to donate to sick children.
There were calls for Damore to be blacklisted from the industry; nuanced analyses of the memo's underlying assumptions and ripple effects; facile analyses of the same; message-board debates about sexual harassment, affirmative action, evolutionary biology, eugenics, and "wrongthink"; and disagreements about the appropriateness of Google's response.
But that message is sentimental and expresses only a facile truth.
Haneke has long been fascinated, at least since "Benny's Video" (1992), by the insinuating, alienating effects of contemporary technology, but here his clever integration of Facebook messages and smartphone apps doesn't feel like a facile anti-internet screed; it's symptomatic of a deeper malaise.
Mr Cable's victorious dance partner was an ex-pop star, who in one episode was brought tea and cake by her grannies.A facile conclusion might be that real elections should be conducted by phone, text message and other new media, like television voting.
* If there's one facile criticism of newspapers that drives me mad, it's the one about online message boards being a repository for the embittered, deranged and not so bright.
The remark about living in peace, leaving aside its facile ingenuity, could be applied to the situation in which the genie had placed me; it was a message from beyond the grave, sent in the knowledge that my dearest wish was for a truly peaceful life, without problems.
