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45
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88
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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63
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73
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16
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75
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83
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61
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46
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66
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59
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54
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76
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79
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40
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69
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64
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xx
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74
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69
World's Greatest Dad
70
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69
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xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Dragonfly
EMAILPRINTMCA/Universal Pictures

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
David Seltzer
Brandon Camp (also story)
Mike Thompson (also story)
Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 22, 2002
DVD: July 30, 2002
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Bruce Almighty Liar Liar Patch Adams
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
In Costner's best moments, he makes us absolutely believe this character and feel his pain.
Read Full Review >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.
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.
Read Full Review >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 >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >USA Today Staff [Not Credited]
When Kevin Costner goes into sensitive-guy mode, beware.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A nitwit script, full of pedestrian dialogue and building to a laughable climax, dooms the picture.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Curt Fields
Comes across more like an above-average TV movie you might see on the Lifetime channel.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Painstakingly painful.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Dragonfly has more plot than a figure-skating competition, and just about as much credibility.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
Despite the film's aspirations to soul healing, its uplift remains mechanical, like an escalator's.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Costner has never been further from the lively, engaging actor he can be, or at least once was.
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
No atmosphere, no tension -- nothing but Costner, flailing away. It's a buggy drag.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Preposterous-for-no-good-reason supernatural tale.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A stinker of epic proportions.
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 >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Costner has an uncanny aptitude for gravitating toward the dopiest projects in sight, but this time he's outdone himself.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Hatched by screenwriters watching "The Sixth Sense" on methamphetamines
Read Full Review >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?
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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 >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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Appalling, shamelessly manipulative and contrived, and totally lacking in conviction.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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.
