Movie Review Roundup - "The Interpreter"

This is disappointing. I had such high hopes for Sidney Pollack's "The Interpreter." I was really looking forward to seeing a great political thriller. I was hoping it would be a slam dunk.

Well, the reviews are in and among the ones I respect the most, the verdict is mixed, at best:

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon - "'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."

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times - "Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter" is a taut and intelligent thriller..."

David Edelstein, Slate - "The Interpreter (Universal) is too bloated with its own significance to deliver the requisite thrills."

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post - "...'The Interpreter' slips like a drunk on a greasy playground slide in a high wind. You're left with admirable, even noble, wreckage, but wreckage it is."

A.O. Scott, New York Times - "This kind of movie, stuffed with intimations of faraway strife and people in suits talking frantically on cellphones and walkie-talkies, is conventionally described as a political thriller, but 'The Interpreter' is as apolitical as it is unthrilling."

Kenneth Turan, NPR/Morning Edition - "'The Interpreter' is a good film that would very much like to be a better film, but that was not to be."

There is almost nothing I enjoy more than sitting in a cool, dark movie theater to watch an engrossing, grown-up thriller, but I guess I'll catch this one on DVD.