Imagine that you want to make a film that is an unholy amalgam of Scrooge, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dead Poets' Society and The Breakfast Club. Imagine that your audience is oblivious to any nuance and you're not so creative, so you will need to employ the standard tropes of bratty prep school kids, mother whose son was killed before his time, bookish professor with a heart of gold and life lessons at the end for all our protagonists.
Trowel on the schmaltz like it's wet concrete and multiply the cringe by 1000. Now you have a decent description of this movie.
