going-through-the-motions-ish

adj. A half-hearted approach to anything, lacking all vim, vigor, spit, spunk, zip, conviction, and oomph.

Real citation: “And now the cultural samurai have been robbed of the opportunity to pit Fahrenheit 9/11 against The Passion in the Academy Awards, or to foam that the first was nominated and the latter not. Neither was nominated for best pic. On cable news today, some of the usual suspects tried to whip up ire over The Passion not getting the top nod--Pat Buchanan will be fulminating tonight--and how this proves how Hollywood slights Christians, but it all seemed rather going-through-the-motions-ish. Since neither The Passion nor Fahrenheit 9/11 got nominated, it's hard to argue a political bias at work.”
(James Wolcott, Jan. 25, 2005, http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/wolcott/2005/01/foiled_again.html)

Made-up citation: "I only vote for going-through-the-motions-ish politicians. They wreak less havoc, dig fewer graves."