“The Interpreter,” starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, is now showing at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

"The Interpreter” is about a United Nations interpreter named Silvia Broome (Kidman) who overhears a plot to assassinate a foreign dignitary during his
forthcoming visit to the UN. After reporting her information to the UN, the Secret Service sends in Agent Tobin Keller (Penn) to investigate the
possibility of an attack.

Keller is initially interested only in protecting the alleged target, President Zuwanie of Matoba. But soon Silvia is endangered, and Keller finds out something about her past that makes her more involved with the assassination plot than she would like him to believe.

“The Interpreter” is the first film to be shot in the actual United Nations in New York City. Unfortunately, the verisimilitude of the set is not matched in the plot, much of which is concerned with the unfolding of Silvia’s background.

A person’s background being, as the filmmakers would have us believe, something the United Nations does not research before they hire people and hand out all-access passes to the any area of the building.

This aside, “The Interpreter” has potential to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller. But scenes that attempt things like intelligence and tenderness routinely break up the action and suspense.

As a result, the film’s energy is diminished and becomes a rather sitting-upright-for-now kind of thriller. These scenes are always those featuring Sean Penn hamming it up, and therefore the downfall of this film lies entirely on his shoulders.

Perhaps I should be more charitable.

Sean Penn’s character, more than Sean Penn himself, drags this film into the sappy territories. In one attempt to defuse a dangerous situation, Keller instructs another character how to put down a gun, but your ensuing laughter will defuse the drama instead.

Keller also suffers from a very recent loss, which is so obviously planted in place to throw Silvia’s choices into sharp relief that it makes the character feel empty and contrived.

All together, “The Interpreter” is a pretty good choice for the smarter breed of political thriller.

You’ll enjoy the fast-paced scenes, and it tries so hard to make you think about forgiveness and diplomacy that you just may do so. And anyway, who doesn’t like picking on Sean Penn?