Really good acting performances by Jolie and Pitt. Also the cinematography is great in this one. Really beautiful. The story unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. Still for a one-time watch it was interesting enough.

Jolie is possibly trying to evoke the French arthouse cinema of the 1970's, and on that level she almost succeeds. The trouble with the film is this - it's painfully dull. Watching these two beautiful actors mope around the screen for two hours is agonising - for them and the viewer. [spoiler] By the time the locals wave them goodbye towards the end of the film, I could almost hear them thinking 'thank goodness they've gone.' [/spoiler]

I wish the waves will take me away and maybe I might find the meaning to the movie. Through out my years reviewing movies on this site, I always avoid using words like "pretentious" or "too arty", as I normally don't think that. To me, if a film what's to tell it's story in a unique way with the power of art and visuals that's done well, then I don't think it's pretentious or too arty. Everyone has different taste and I know it's kind of beating a dead horse right now since I keep bringing that up, but I do that just to keep everyone in mind that my opinion and what I have to say for movies is just me. But today might change, as I watched a movie that I can look at and call it pretentious. 'By The Sea' was an underwhelming arty mess that has a hidden message that's still unclear. The movie demands to be analysis. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt deliver decent performances and there were a few good shots that looked nice. But everything else felt force and while watching it I was kind of annoyed, because it has no weight to it when it came to the story and the character's deep motivation that came off sloppy. Jolie has a vision, but the must crushing and difficult thing is to bring that vision to the big screen. It isn't easy for some directors, because sometimes they can pull it off and sometimes don't; Jolie sadly falls into the "don't". Overall rating: 'By the Sea' was a pretentious and underwhelming movie with a muddled story that tries so hard to have a meaning.

Not worth the time. I watched it because it's Jolie and I'm a fan. Also, I was somewhat intrigued by the summation of the film on TMN .. Exploring how people deal with grief differently. It spent far too much time setting up the premise and not enough time feeling the emotion or lack of or whatever. It ended up just being a movie about how thoughtless and cruel people are too each other when they think they have an excuse.

The most boring couple since Nicole Kidman and the Top Gun guy. ..... .... oh yeah I remember the name Tom Cruise.