With “Like for Likes,” what you see is what you get: A cookie-cutter omnibus romantic comedy featuring three couples, tangentially linked, each finding his or her way to an ever-after ending. The men are sweet, the women are adorable and butterflies abound as the familiar stages of courtship unfold.

It’s difficult to imagine how this setup could yield surprises, yet one still feels a tinge of disappointment at the way in which “Like for Likes” fulfills its promise to a T. If any romantic comedy could give the tired tropes a whirl, it seemed “Like for Likes” would be it, because of its all-star cast, if nothing else. 

The first couple is made up of veteran actress Lee Mi-yeon from the hit drama “Reply 1988” and Korean cinema darling Yoo Ah-in who was in the films “Veteran” and “The Throne.” She plays a haughty, sharp-tongued TV writer while he plays a carefree, selfish international superstar. 

The second couple throws together hallyu star Choi Ji-woo, who rose to stardom with the TV drama “Winter Sonata,” and the steady actor Kim Joo-hyuk, who was in the comedy film “The Beauty Inside”. Choi plays a hardworking yet clumsy flight attendant while Kim plays a friendly chef who likes to poke his nose into everyone’s business. Through a series of unfortunate events, the two become unwilling roommates and eventually very close friends.

The third couple struts out Kang Ha-neul, who was in the movie “Twenty,” and model-actress E Som, who was in the movie “Scarlet Innocence.” Kang is a gifted composer with a hearing impairment and with no experience in love, while E is a savvy TV producer who finds her next plaything in Kang’s character.

It is a cast of A-list names, each with solid acting credentials, playing clichéd characters. Online networks play a minimal role in the plot, despite the film’s attempts to market itself as fresh and trendy by having all three couples eventually get to know one another through social media. Any romantic comedy set in 2016, should incorporate Facebook stalking and messaging in order to seem realistic.

On interesting way in which “Like for Likes” tries to differentiate itself from other syrupy sweet love films is through its female characters. They have strong careers and strong expressions of self-worth beyond simply being one-half of a relationship.

Director Park Hyun-jin told reporters at the press preview that she wanted the female characters to be “independent” rather than to simply be “swept around by the male characters,” and this intent jumps out through certain lines in the film. Choi Ji-woo’s character casually corrects someone’s usage of the term “spinster” to “single woman” in conversation. Yoo Ah-in’s character chastises his colleagues for calling Lee Mi-yeon’s character bossy and headstrong saying that a man who has this type of personality would be considered self-assured.

Unfortunately, such delivered lines generally fall in awkward thuds even from the mouths of the excellent cast. They are jarring when considering the overall mood of the film, and such moments come across as a break in character.

“Like for Likes” is not bad - it is well-edited, smoothly paced and has an appropriate mix of cringe-worthy lines and laugh-out-loud moments. All of the characters come across as natural and comfortable and seem to fit well with the real-life personalities of the actors who play them. It’s a shame that it opens after Valentine’s Day weekend, because it seems like the perfect date movie. However, for anyone who expects this star-studded film to be something beyond effortless archetypes, the film is likely to leave something to be desired.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)