sentimentalize

The key to making this work — which is to say making us care — is the performance of Groff, who humanizes Frank’s choices without sentimentalizing his arc.

What happens to a created family of friends, which modern culture has sentimentalized with the zeal once reserved for romantic relationships, when marriage and children occur?

To his credit, he refuses to sentimentalize the character.

History is sentimentalized, making the sketchy story lines seem even more contrived.

You talked about loss during the pandemic, but it isn't sentimentalized.