And the winner goes to... Dragonfly, for the worst film of the year. Yes, Dragonfly, the over-advertised and under-acted movie which opened Friday in theaters, is a huge flop and not even bad enough to make fun of.
Kevin Costner plays Dr. Joe Darrow, an emergency room doctor that forces a suicide patient away in the opening seen because he wants to help people who want to live. Darrow lost his wife when she was working for the Red Cross in South America six months before, and is still the grieving widower.
Emily, Darrow’s wife, was the untouchable, magnificent doctor who cared about helping everyone and not materialistic things. She was an oncologist and all of the children adored her sweet smile and blonde curly hair. Even Emily’s bird preferred her to the grouchy Dr. Darrow, announcing her entrance each day when she arrived.
The plot is extremely unbelievable, too. Emily tries to reach Dr. Darrow through her patients. While one is flat-lined, he calls to Darrow and then confesses that Emily is trying to reach him. Another child who came to the hospital after Emily’s death said he was trying to tell Darrow something from Emily, too. Everyone is worried about Darrow, but he wants to get to the bottom of this mystery.
What is Emily trying to tell Dr. Darrow? Why does she keep speaking to him through other people? And why is everyone so obsessed with dragonflies and little crosses drawn with squiggly lines? Well, I will save those little surprises for those who want to torture themselves.
For about a month, I saw ads and ads about this movie. Each of them painted a picture of a scary supernatural flick, which seemed to be quite intriguing. Well, they did it again — all of the best parts of the movie were shown in the trailer, and there was nothing left.
The movie tries to be two things at once. On one hand, they remember Emily in the “real world,” while Darrow plays in his own world of trying to figure out why all of these weird things keep happening. It is one of those movies that couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a drama or a supernatural thriller.
Costner’s character starts off the movie very short-tempered and anal-retentive, so there is nowhere for him to go as the movie progresses. Darrow is not sensitive, but rude to many of the forgettable characters, which makes the plot even less believable and the movie even more awful.
Another problem is the part of the neighbor, played by Kathy Bates. Come on Bates, this is such a step down for an actor of your caliber. I don’t want to watch Kathy Bates play a lonely neighbor who cooks waffles all day. Besides, no one would ever believe that she was a lawyer.
So save your money, and don’t go see this shameful Universal movie — maybe it will move quickly to television, on U.S.A. or PAX, where it belongs.
