Sandy Kenyon reviews 'By The Sea,' 'Love the Coopers'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Angelina Jolie-Pitt and Brad Pitt are back on the big screen together in a new film that opens in select cities this weekend. It's the first time the superstar couple has appeared together since "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" a decade ago.

But this time around, the reception is entirely different.

Angelina deserves a pat on the back for trying to write and direct a movie featuring her husband and herself, but that doesn't mean viewers should join them "By The Sea."

Never has watching two of the biggest stars on Earth been so unexciting. To be "By The Sea" is to be bored beyond description. Although her intentions may have been good, the result is just bad. It amounts to mental cruelty, though both the actress and her husband still look great.

Pitt plays a one-shot wonder, an author who scored an early success but who now suffers from a bad case of writer's block, and drinking too much isn't helping. His wife, played by Jolie-Pitt, is without charm, and the pills she takes aren't helping.

Their trip to the seashore doesn't cure their malaise or their marriage, and newlyweds next door are definitely not helping the older couple's mood improve.

Part of the dialogue is in French, because Jolie-Pitt wants this to be like a French film. But by the time viewers understand why these characters are so upset, they won't even care.

In fact, these voyeurs are so unlikable that it's really hard spending two hours with them, no matter how attractive their surroundings might be.

Also, speaking of unlikable, when it came time to "Love the Coopers," it was not lovable.

If one might think this review is too harsh, other critics have shown "The Coopers" no "Love," and they like "By The Sea" even less. The vast majority of critics surveyed on the website "Rotten Tomatoes" had harsh words for both films.