The Interpreter
Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 22, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
16
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam 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." Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael 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. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
An elegant adventure of a different kind. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Coolly absorbing without being pulse-quickening. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter 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." Read full review
75
PremierePeter Debruge
Slick, well-acted, and smarter than it has to be. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
A swiftly told, smartly acted yarn, and it even has an idea or two on its mind. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Watching these coolly precise, methodical actors spar with each other at the top of their game is half the show. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
An intelligent, old-fashioned nail-biter. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A cut above the average politically-based thriller. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A suspense thriller of rare intelligence. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael 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. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The Kidman character is an exotic--and even unlikely--creature, usefully fueling Penn's annoyed but fascinated incredulity. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth 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. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
In the absence of internal logic, external style and emotional intelligence carry the day.
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
As a straight-ahead thriller, the movie is enjoyable and stirring much of the time. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
Penn is terrific in his low-key doggedness. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Made with an intelligence and craft that's increasingly rare in Hollywood thrillers. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The Interpreter is ultimately fluent in many things, but an out-and-out thriller it is not. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's a thriller, and a large one, and it's got a couple of terrific performers in the center. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence 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. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike 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. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
But at the risk of sounding ungrateful, Sydney Pollack's latest film should have been a lot better. Read full review
60
EmpireIan Nathan
Solid, mature and finely acted, but intermittently daft. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony 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. Read full review
60
TimeRichard Corliss
There's enough narrative for three fine films. But not enough for The Interpreter. The thriller pieces feel assembled rather than organic. Read full review
60
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
In the end, nothing about The Interpreter strikes us as very original. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
The Interpreter dashes the suspense by talking the audience to death. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla 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. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Its talky, sluggish script is so bereft of thrills -- intellectual or otherwise -- that even the film's one masterfully staged sequence... falls flat. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The film feels long, the editing is choppy, and the plot strands are at once convoluted and cliched. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Conventionally described as a political thriller, but The Interpreter is as apolitical as it is unthrilling. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderStaff (Not credited)
Five people worked on the script; if there was ever any inspiration behind it, there isn't now. Read full review
50
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. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley 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. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie 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. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen 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. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
Too bloated with its own significance to deliver the requisite thrills. Read full review
40
The New RepublicStanley 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. Read full review
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