What does "too on the nose" mean?

What does "too on the nose" mean, especially as applied to art?

I use the expression but struggle to explicitly articulate what I mean. My best attempt is that I use it to refer to film, music, etc. that lacks subtlety and nuance, for example cheaply getting emotional heft from very directly stating cliched and unsubtle emotions.

Too:

1. In addition; also
2. More than enough; excessively
3. To a regrettable degree - AHDEL/TFD

Obviously, I'm using too in the sense of #2 or #3.

And the idiom on the nose:

Exactly, precisely; ...This term... may come from boxing, where the opponent's nose is a highly desired target. - AHDI/TFD

I haven't been able to find reliable definitions for too on the nose online (they're swamped by definition of 'on the nose', which is apparently often a positive phrase meaning exact or precise).

You can't be "too on the nose" in boxing. Can it have a negative meaning or is this a misuse of the phrase?

Solution 1:

Assume "on the nose" means perfect - a positive connotation, as you've stated.

Too "on the nose" means too perfect. Which, as you've noted, connotes a negative.

Take a subjective matter such as painting. If you're going for freedom, expression of movement, light, etc., rendering something in too much detail can ruin the effect, in essence, the rendering is too perfect and therefore lifeless or absent of movement or subtlety.

An example of this is found in the later paintings of JMW Turner, e.g. Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway:

Here, a lot of detail ("perfect" rendering) would have ruined the evocative effect of the painting.

Solution 2:

In the acting/script/play/film world, "too on the nose" is a pretty common phrase which means lacking in sub-text, too obvious, having neither subtlety nor sophistication. In life, people can't usually say what they mean for one reason or another; when they do in film or theater it comes across as unrealistic.