Kevin Costner gets his turn to see dead people in 'Dragon Fly'

By Eleanor O'Sullivan
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

DRAGONFLY (Rated PG-13 for thematic material and mild sensuality) Two Stars (Fair) Part "Sixth Sense," part haunted-house thriller and, in the biggest chunk of all, part new-age inspirational, "Dragonfly" takes about 85 minutes to get to a satisfying punch line but without coherence or momentum. Starring Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates and Ron Rifkin, and Susanna Thompson. Directed by Tom Shadyac. Universal, 85 mins.

Comedy director Tom Shadyac ("Liar Liar," "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective") struggles to turn a screenplay by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson into a meaningful story of loss, redemption and faith, but the final product is a stew of warring components.

Kevin Costner plays Dr. Joe Darrow, a caring emergency room doctor whose even more caring physician wife, Emily (Susanna Thompson), dies in a bus accident in a remote village in Venezuela while working for the Red Cross.

After Emily's death, Joe persistently sees a strange figure that he says looks like "a crucifix made out of Jell-O." He also hears voices and believes dying cancer patients are communicating with his wife.

Somebody is trying to tell Joe something, but what? Part "Sixth Sense," part haunted-house thriller and, in the biggest chunk of all, part new-age inspirational, "Dragonfly" takes about 85 minutes to get to a satisfying punch line — but without coherence or momentum.

Director Shadyac, who usually has split-second timing in his comedies, just lets the movie drift into a camera love-fest with Costner's pleasing face and figure. Costner earns his money by sweating a lot: Joe runs in and out of hospital rooms, up and down flights of stairs in his stunning Queen Anne-era house, and back and forth from his place to his neighbor's.

Kathy Bates portrays the neighbor; she is a woman who is virtually never out of her pajamas but regularly talks about her career as a lawyer. She's the devil's advocate of the story who demands Joe come up with "evidence" of his dead wife's presence. Perhaps the PJs mean to signal a new dimension to "dress down" days at the office. Bates has been much better elsewhere.

Inconsistencies and fat question marks abound, chiefly, how come a government rescue team is said to have spent nearly a month unsuccessfully looking for Emily's body, but then it turns up readily once Joe gets to the scene? Then again, since the movie is supposed to be about Joe needing closure, it wouldn't do if her remains were found with dispatch.

The excellent cast has hit-and-miss moments and most of the actors, save Costner, are no match for the silly, spooky atmosphere that Shadyac cranks up to keep us interested. Poor Linda Hunt plays a nun who, when directed to do something by a priest, answers "Yes, sir."

Is there no one in Hollywood who knows that priests are not called sir, especially by nuns?

Pray for us, father.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and mild sensuality