Lee Mi-yeon and Yoo Ah-in star in “Like for Likes” (CJ Entertainment)

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 (most recently in the hit drama “Reply 1988”) playing a haughty, sharp-tongued TV writer and Korean cinema darling Yoo Ah-in (“Veteran,” “The Throne”) playing a carefree, selfish international superstar.

Kim Joo-hyuk and Choi Ji-woo star in “Like for Likes” (CJ Entertainment)

The second couple throws together hallyu star Choi Ji-woo, who rose to stardom with the TV drama “Winter Sonata,”, with 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,” with model and actress E Som, who was in the movie “Scarlet Innocence”. Kang is a gifted composer with a hearing impairment who has no experience in love, while E is a savvy TV producer who finds her next plaything in Kang’s character.

It’s a cast of A-list names with solid, serious acting credentials playing cliched characters. Despite the film’s attempts to market itself as being fresh and trendy by having all three couples eventually hook up thanks to the power of social media, online networks play a minimal role in the plot itself. Any romantic comedy set in 2016, in fact, should incorporate Facebook stalking and messaging in order to seem realistic.

E Som and Kang Ha-neul star in “Like for Likes” (CJ Entertainment)

The interesting way in which “Like for Likes” differentiates 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 be “swept around by the male characters,” and that intent jumps out through certain lines in the film. Choi Ji-woo’s character casually corrects the term “spinster” into “single woman” in conversation, and Yoo Ah-in’s character chastises his colleagues for calling Lee

Mi-yeon’s character bossy and headstrong saying that a man who had this type of personality would be considered self-assured.

Unfortunately, those socially conscious 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 these moments come across as a break in character.

“Like for Likes” isn’t 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 are 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.

“Like for Likes” opens in local theaters on Feb. 18.

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