Ever since Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were married fans have yearned for them to make another film together. Surely with Jolie writing the screenplay -- plus her natural chemistry with Brad – the movie would rock. Sadly, By the Sea doesn’t rock. In fact, it’s a huge boulder that travels too long to come to a crashing and uneventful end.

Roland (Pitt) and his wife Nessa (Jolie), short for Vanessa, open the film riding in a sports car around the curvy roads heading to a Malta getaway by the sea. We shortly learn as they begin their first full day that Roland is a writer. He tucks his notebook in his pocket and says goodbye to a forlorn looking Nessa still in bed.

Roland starts what will be his every day action leaving his wife to fend for herself as he heads downstairs to owner Michel’s (Niels Arestrup) café / bar where he writes a line or two but mostly drinks all day.

His pattern involves returning late in the afternoon almost every day. Occasionally Roland suggests things for Nessa to do during the day: go to the beach, sunbath on the patio, go shopping. By the time he comes back to the room, he’s plastered and they usually end up fighting. He reminds her she has a failed career as a dancer. She reminds him he’s a drunk.

It’s easy to figure out they have problems. Nessa will barely let Roland touch her much less be intimate. After more of the same, there’s finally a scene of huge drama that suggests there might be physical harm to one or the other. This reveals a problem that opens like a bleeding wound.

Eventually Nessa discovers a peep hole near the floor in the hotel wall that looks into the next room. It has recently been occupied by a newlywed couple, François (Melvil Poupaud) and Lea (Mélanie Laurent).  Out of nowhere one day, Nessa accuses Roland of wanting to sleep with Lea. Taken aback with no reason why Nessa would say this, he accuses her of being sick and needing to get help.

Nessa soon finds entertainment every day by removing the plug in the wall and feasting on watching the couple next door have sex.  Roland ultimately discovers the hole and questions Nessa. But adding to the already monotonous and boring story, he agrees to watch with her.

As actors the couple do well because we believe these characters so much we detest them. But there’s no entertainment in the plot. It even dulls the scenery and the other few characters in the story. Most annoying is Jolie in what seems like an ongoing photo shoot with her lounging in the bed, posturing her head up in the air in different lingerie, trying to look seductive in the bath tub. However, this approach comes across as anything but seductive, mainly because she’s rarely without a cigarette in her mouth.

There’s nothing entertaining about this film. Was it intended with some kind of French filmmaking kinship? It was far from any I’ve seen. What very few words Nessa utters sound wooden. Jolie can bring a lot of emotion to her characters, but that’s lacking here,  although there are several sullen movements of Nessa walking toward the balcony when I thought she would jump off because she was depressed or fed up with war between her and hubby – take your pick. And a few times, I wished her character would jump. Realizing the knowledge of film by both of these actors and their experience in the movie world made it even more irritating to think people would be happy they spent two hours watching this mess. Still, to end on a positive note, we can always watch Unbroken or 12 Years a Slave again to remember the real talents of Mr. and Mrs. Pitt.

(Released by Universal Pictures and rated "R"  for strong sexuality, nudity, and language.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.