Sentence:  Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he <WSD>makes a meal of</WSD> the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word "frittata" may well be the film's high point. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of.