The more banal , the more commonplace, the more predictable, the triter, the staler, the dumber, the better. — Don DeLillo , Mao II ,

The instructor's script is banal , relying heavily on images of waves on a beach or clouds in the sky. — Maxine Kumin , "Wintering Over," , in In Deep ,

… it seemed to me that computers have been used in ways that are salutary, in ways that are dangerous, banal and cruel, and in ways that seem harmless if a little silly. — Tracy Kidder , The Soul of a New Machine ,

He made some banal remarks about the weather.

The writing was banal but the story was good.