"We Don't Live Here Anymore" is an artfully directed, well-acted bore. The film couldn't be less interesting if it were called "Watching Paint Dry," with footage to match.

This drama is filled with unlikable characters who proceed to yell at each other, then have sex with each other and then cry. And then they repeat the process.

It's not even as interesting as that makes it sound. And what's worse, the whole thing is loaded with more painfully obvious symbolism and equally clumsy thematic devices than a bad Freshman Writing 101 term paper.

Where it does succeed is as an acting exercise, but that doesn't add up to a fulfilling cinematic experience.

"We Don't Live Here Anymore" takes its title from a short story by Andre Dubus, whose "In the Bedroom" was made into a considerably better movie. This drama looks at the relationships of two not-so-happily married couples — Hank and Edith Evans (Peter Krause and Naomi Watts) and Jack and Terry Linden (Mark Ruffalo and Laura Dern).

Jack and Edith have been carrying on an affair for a while now, and their respective spouses either know about it or have their suspicions. Yet nothing is really said, aside from the occasional snippy comment.

It appears that Jack and Edith are trying to persuade Hank and Terry to commit their own indiscretion. And it wouldn't be the first time for Hank, who cheated on his wife once before.

A more compelling film would have examined the effect the marital indiscretions have on the children of both unions. Instead, most of the story centers on these unsympathetic and loathsome characters.

Not that the actors are much help in that regard. Krause has played a sulky, self-possessed character so many times that the routine has become tiresome. The same goes for Ruffalo.

The one watchable person here is Dern, who at least invests her character with a little dignity — though screenwriter Larry Gross quickly robs her of that with the things he makes her do and say.

"We Don't Live Here Anymore" is rated R for frequent use of strong sexual profanity, simulated sex, use of crude sexual slang terms and other frank sexual talk, brief partial female nudity, violence (temper tantrums and brief domestic violence), and brief drug content (references to drug use). Running time: 101 minutes.

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