Instead of ""sugar coating"" the harsh things you say, what would ""sour coating"" the nice things you say be like?

"Poorly-written movies will often do this in order to manufacture pointless drama, usually in the form of starting a sentence with something that sounds negative, then ending it with a positive note. I remember in the movie Eragon, the main character uses the last of his magic to heal his injured dragon before passing out. He wakes up later and asks "Where is my dragon?" To which another character responds, "Some friends can't be replaced...". The movie pauses for a moment of melancholy, then the dragon flies in, good as new, and the friend adds with a wry smile, "...but luckily, some don't have to be" I mean, just tell the guy his dragon's all right, no need to jerk him around like that. "