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Interpreter, The
Universal Pictures


6.8

based on 41 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 104 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language

Starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Jesper Christensen, Yvan Attal, Earl Cameron, George Harris, and Michael Wright

A suspenseful thriller of international intrigue set inside the political corridors of the United Nations and on the streets of New York. (Universal)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Charles Randolph Scott Frank Steven Zaillian Martin Stellman & Brian Ward (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Sydney Pollack
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 4, 2005 Video: October 4, 2005 Theatrical: April 22, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	128 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK/USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Very much a '70s-style paranoid thriller, with a mood, tone and cascade of plot twists that are highly reminiscent of his 1975 classic, "Three Days of the Condor."

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

As beautifully designed, swift and sleek as a classic sports car, throbbing with emotion and intelligence, it's a neat suspense film that's also dramatically and sociologically potent, with two supremely talented stars, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, delivering beyond the emotional call of duty.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

An elegant adventure of a different kind.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Coolly absorbing without being pulse-quickening.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The Interpreter bristles with the smart, steadily engrossing tension that marked such 1970s goodies as "All the President's Men," "The Parallax View" and Pollack's own "Three Days of the Condor."

Premiere Peter Debruge

Slick, well-acted, and smarter than it has to be.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A swiftly told, smartly acted yarn, and it even has an idea or two on its mind.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Watching these coolly precise, methodical actors spar with each other at the top of their game is half the show.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

An intelligent, old-fashioned nail-biter.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A cut above the average politically-based thriller.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What I admire most about the film is the way it enters the terms of this world -- of international politics, security procedures, shifting motives -- and observes the details of all-night stakeouts, shop talk, and interlocking motives and strategies.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A suspense thriller of rare intelligence.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie's main strengths are its use of the real United Nations as its prime location and Pollack's ability to stud this movie (as he also did "The Firm") with players who do supporting-character equivalents of star turns.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

As a straight-ahead thriller, the movie is enjoyable and stirring much of the time.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Yes, this could be a better film, but the good qualities it does have are rare enough to hold our interest on screen and off.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

In the absence of internal logic, external style and emotional intelligence carry the day.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The Kidman character is an exotic--and even unlikely--creature, usefully fueling Penn's annoyed but fascinated incredulity.

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

Penn is terrific in his low-key doggedness.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Made with an intelligence and craft that's increasingly rare in Hollywood thrillers.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The Interpreter is ultimately fluent in many things, but an out-and-out thriller it is not.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a thriller, and a large one, and it's got a couple of terrific performers in the center.

USA Today Mike Clark

With major stars, a name director and grown-up subject matter, this middling drama is less a movie to recommend with vigor than to covet on general principles.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

But at the risk of sounding ungrateful, Sydney Pollack's latest film should have been a lot better.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

An old-fashioned suspense drama with an old-fashioned belief at its core: Justice can be done in the world, and the United Nations is the global organization to do it.

Empire Ian Nathan

Solid, mature and finely acted, but intermittently daft.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The Interpreter is long and tangled, the score is yet another drownout from the thundering James Newton Howard, and the avowed thoughtfulness--about sub-Saharan politics, about the clashing commitments to peace and justice, about the kinship of damaged souls--is at once laudable and vaporous.

Time Richard Corliss

There's enough narrative for three fine films. But not enough for The Interpreter. The thriller pieces feel assembled rather than organic.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

In the end, nothing about The Interpreter strikes us as very original.

Chicago Reader Staff (Not credited)

Five people worked on the script; if there was ever any inspiration behind it, there isn't now.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Gets more and more complex until it's almost laughable; it has too many beats, too many reverses, and in the end seems unbelievable.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A righteous but wrongheaded thriller, chokes on its well-meant outrage and leaves a moth-eaten plot and handful of nonsense characters on its way to a dopey finish.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The Interpreter is so intent on reminding us that it's a QUALITY piece of work that it forgets to give us the very thing we thought we came in for: a story.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The ideal: It hopes to be a suspenseful political yarn carrying a lofty message of peace and understanding. The reality: It's just a flabby thriller that gets completely lost in translation.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The Interpreter dashes the suspense by talking the audience to death.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

When it comes to the United Nations, though, the movie turns to Jell-O. Whether Pollack was softened up by his meetings with U.N. brass (all the way up to Kofi Annan), or by his own gentlemanly Midwestern liberalism, he is alarmingly circumspect about that august body.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Its talky, sluggish script is so bereft of thrills -- intellectual or otherwise -- that even the film's one masterfully staged sequence... falls flat.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The film feels long, the editing is choppy, and the plot strands are at once convoluted and cliched.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Conventionally described as a political thriller, but The Interpreter is as apolitical as it is unthrilling.

Slate David Edelstein

Too bloated with its own significance to deliver the requisite thrills.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The director, Sydney Pollack, who appears briefly in the film, has done his experienced best with this Scotch-taped script. But his two stars are insuperable handicaps.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 104 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Phil K. gave it a5:
I have to say, in defense of Pollock, that I seriously doubt this is the film he inteneded to make. I saw an interview with him in which he said, in effect, that he didn't enjoy making The Interpreter. I believe there was a lot more he wanted to say about the Zumanie character (his evolution into a tyrant, the devastating "structural adjustment" packages imposed by the IMF and World Bank, death squads financed by the US, etc.), but since he was filming at the UN, I'm sure the UN Security Council (i.e., the Bush Administration, NSA, CIA) put considerable pressure on Pollock to revise any scenes or dialogue which would shed some much needed light on how the most brutal leaders of developing countries are placed in power and who their policies always benefit to the detriment of the vast majority of its citizens. Having seen the trailer, and knowing that Pollock was directing Penn and Kidman, I expected a good, solid, political thriller. Like most who are familiar with Pollock's work, I was disappointed in the extreme. However, I should have known that any film made by a major studio dealing with a subject which was politically sensitive, would be a light ball of pink, confectionary fluff wrapped around a hollow core.

abir d gave it a6:
Definetly watchable. Characters a bit too underplayed.

Steve P gave it a2:
This is probally Sydney Pollock's, I'm sorry Pollack's worst film ever. There was a message in it but it was distorted By Nicole Kidman's and Sean Penn's Bogas romance. And is this really a Thriller, there's about 5mins of action in it. the other 123mins is filled with Pollock's theriors of Pasifisum, and Diplomacy. I really liked how they encoraged the sparing of African Hate Crime Offenders. It was also full of really dum dialog, about Nicoles' stupid south african traditions, and Sean's wife who cheated on him with a dancer. "All Right and action movie about Marital Betrail, African Death Rights, and Pasifisum, who about we make Terminator Rise of the Pasifist next!!!!" If you Hate War, Love War Criminals, and Have a Passion for Cheap Romance Films that clam to be Action films you will love this, Both of You!!!!!!

Susan M. gave it a7:
I thought this was a smart and suspenseful thriller, but the ending was a bit silly. Still worth renting, though.

Dave F gave it a9:
Damn good movie. Keeps its head well above the hollywood-cliche quagmire. A "political thriller" with emotional intrigue.

mark z. gave it a1:
I've seen worse.

bj d. gave it a7:
Held my interest. At time it was difficult to understand the characters accent, including Kidman. Sean Penn was great, as usual. Some parts of the movie didn't come together for us, but overall it's worth seeing. And there is violence but most of it is quite subtle.

Interpreter, The Universal Pictures

Interpreter, The
Universal Pictures