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
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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