Meadows presents a startlingly odd mix of near-treacly sentimentality and looming menace of extreme violence.

NEWYORKER: This Is England

Its tale of impoverished urban outcasts fell flat as audiences turned to sensational gangster flicks and treacly family dramas.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

The result is a garish, loud parody of a garish, loud world, as well as a treacly fable of family togetherness that drags on like a never-ending pit stop.

NEWYORKER: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

The album is filled with the kind of uplifting melodies and sweet vocal harmonies that sound pleasant and unobjectionable, but the resulting songs sometimes sound treacly and are often quite dull.

FORBES: How Mumford & Sons Landed On The Top Of The Pop Charts

It's home to the world's third-largest film industry and serves as a breeding ground for Canto-pop, a treacly transmogrification of Western pop-rock that can leave the listener feeling rather like a glazed donut -- coated in sugar but with a big hole in the middle.

CNN: The Really Useful Guide