When Secret Service agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) suddenly opens up to Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) about his wife dying in a car accident, the moment feels forced and out of context. Much of The Interpreter treads along in this way as the seemingly random plot makes little sense. Silvia is an interpreter who works at the United Nations. One night, she goes to her translation booth where she overhears a mumbled conversation in a foreign language. The words spoken apparently indicate an assassination plot involving a key figure in the UN. Yet, the government suspects that Silvia may know more than she is letting on.

The Interpreter tries its best to rise above the mundane. There’s some fancy dialogue of the philosophical variety. Silvia talks about her past a little bit and the following line emerges from the recesses of her memory: “Vengeance is a lazy form of grief.” Maybe twenty years ago The Interpreter would seem relevant. Yet, in the post 9/11 environment, it doesn’t take long for a story to seem dated. And Sydney Pollack’s thriller fails to provide any emphasis on the social consequences behind terrorism or those who deal with it.

The first scene between Silvia and Tobin feels particularly unconvincing. Curious about not having seen Tobin around, Silvia asks him why. His reply is simply “They hire us for our forgettable faces.” Thus a good line of dialogue becomes spoilt by pedestrian pacing and stiff-legged direction. It’s a shame because Pollack is an old hand, his expertise unmatched when the screenplay falls into place, as in Jeremiah Johnson (1972).

The Interpreter comes across like a sleepy thriller most of the time. Its thrills are spread over two hours with far too many pauses in between. Saying James Newton Howard’s distance-inducing score could be more immersive is a   complete understatement. The screenplay, credited to Charles Randolph, Scott Frank and Steven Zaillian, needs to be tighter. However, with a narrative hook this contrived, I doubt if any editing could save it.

(Released by Universal Pictures and rated "PG-13" for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language.)