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Dragonfly
MCA/Universal Pictures

Dragonfly reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 25 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.7 out of 10
based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic material and mild sensuality

Starring Kevin Costner, Kathryn Erbe, Kathy Bates, Meg Thalken, Susanna Thompson, Ron Rifkin, Joe Morton, and Jay Thomas

A supernatural drama about a doctor who believes his dead wife is communicating with him from the other side.


GENRE(S): Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: David Seltzer
Brandon Camp (also story)
Mike Thompson (also story)
 
DIRECTED BY: Tom Shadyac  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: July 30, 2002 
Video: July 30, 2002 
Theatrical: February 22, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
In Costner's best moments, he makes us absolutely believe this character and feel his pain.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Jay Carr
At least Dragonfly isn't contemptible or altogether dismissible. But it doesn't use Costner well, and it even more unforgivably wastes Kathy Bates.
50
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A sappy, often absurd disappointment, another would-be inspirational romance that, like Costner's overwrought "Message in a Bottle," is impossible to swallow.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Meandering and inert. Yet as an etching of an emotion and a vehicle for Costner, the movie makes a case for itself.
Read Full Review
50
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Eventually, though, the movie turns into a "Touched By An Angel" knockoff that dares us not to reach for a hankie while we succumb to its comforting message.
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50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Costner is convincing as the hero, ably supported by Joe Morton as a short-tempered supervisor and Kathy Bates as a feisty neighbor. Dragonfly has little chance of "Ghost"-like popularity, though.
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50
USA Today Staff [Not Credited]
When Kevin Costner goes into sensitive-guy mode, beware.
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42
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A nitwit script, full of pedestrian dialogue and building to a laughable climax, dooms the picture.
Read Full Review
40
New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson
Joe Morton, Linda Hunt and Kathy Bates show up in supporting roles, only to have Costner's flagging energy drag them down, too.
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40
Washington Post Curt Fields
Comes across more like an above-average TV movie you might see on the Lifetime channel.
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40
TV Guide Ken Fox
Though the film springs an okay twist at the very end, there's a good chance you won't be awake to see it.
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38
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Hollywood movies are rarely as contemptuous of the audience as Dragonfly, with its half-witted, treacly New Age sappiness and its mechanical borrowings from other, better supernatural thrillers.
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38
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Painstakingly painful.
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Dragonfly has more plot than a figure-skating competition, and just about as much credibility.
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38
ReelViews James Berardinelli
This is a tedious and insulting motion picture. The only ones likely to be surprised by the payoff are those who understandably dozed off fifteen minutes into the proceedings.
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30
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Dragonfly wants desperately to be the spiritual heir to "The Sixth Sense," but it's not even as effective a thriller.
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30
LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
Despite the film's aspirations to soul healing, its uplift remains mechanical, like an escalator's.
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30
Variety Joe Leydon
Costner's earnest performance is a major plus for Dragonfly, keeping the picture grounded in some semblance of reality even as it becomes progressively more fantastical.
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30
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Very little here begs to be paid attention to.
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30
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Costner has never been further from the lively, engaging actor he can be, or at least once was.
25
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
No atmosphere, no tension -- nothing but Costner, flailing away. It's a buggy drag.
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25
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Preposterous-for-no-good-reason supernatural tale.
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25
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A stinker of epic proportions.
25
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A syrup-thick New Age ghost story of the same sappy stripe and mawkishness as another Costner foray, "Message in a Bottle."
Read Full Review
20
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Costner has an uncanny aptitude for gravitating toward the dopiest projects in sight, but this time he's outdone himself.
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20
Film Threat Michael Dequina
It's performances like these that make it so easy to forget that, when he wants to, Costner can indeed act and be an appealing star.
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20
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Hatched by screenwriters watching "The Sixth Sense" on methamphetamines
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20
Slate David Edelstein
Linda Hunt's spooky nun speaks of "a hundred levels of consciousness" between death and full, earthbound awareness: Where on that continuum do the executives who green-lighted Dragonfly reside?
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20
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
The climax comes at you like a thrown cream pie, but given its faux-mythic nerve, it's tolerable. Too bad this latest station in Costner's ongoing self-crucifixion is such small potatoes until then.
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20
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Awash in cheap shocks and corny sentiment, Dragonfly aspires to be an inspirational thriller about one man's spiritual journey, but it takes little time for him to reach his destination. All that's left for him and the audience to do is solve a riddle unfit for the back of a cereal box.
Read Full Review
10
The New York Times Dana Stevens
As the movie dragged on, I thought I heard a mysterious voice, and felt myself powerfully drawn toward the light -- the light of the exit sign. I have returned from the beyond to warn you: this movie is 90 minutes long, and life is too short.
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10
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Appalling, shamelessly manipulative and contrived, and totally lacking in conviction.
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0
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
I could puke.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Debbie J. gave it a10:
I love this movie and how he never gave up looking for what his wife was trying to tell him with her signs. "Trust and Have Faith And It's The Belief That Gets Us There." That's the best morale of a movie. Thanks.

Colleen L. gave it a 10:
Definately an orginal plot. Couldn't then and still can't get enough of it. I have recommended the film to many family and friends and they all agree and have also purchased the movie.

Marita F. gave it an 8:
I thought it was a very good movie. The end surprised me, but made everything come together. I rarely ever watch a movie twice, but I have this one. It's not a run-of-the-mill, fogettable movie like many others.

Katie P. gave it a 6:
Not that bad, but definitely not great either.

Rod R. gave it an 8:
A good story line, with a surprise ending, mixed with suspense and thrills in between.

Kc p gave it a 0:
By the time they arrived in guatemala i realized this is the worst movie i have ever seen, even worse tham mrs. doubtfire, damn that movie was horrible.

Some Enchanted Mulroneycakes gave it a 2:
He'd just got out of his downward slide, as well. Waterworld was a pretty good movie, but a good movie almost DESPITE Our Kev's presence. The Postman was a good idea for a 90-minute Boy-And-His-Dogesque black comedy. Shame it was a three hour I'm-Kevin-Costnerfest. Then there was Thirteen Days, and suddenly it seemed Kev had remembered what a Good Script looks like. Then Dragonfly came along. Oops. Good title. That's about all, though.

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