Kevin Costner’s Worst Movie Is So Terrible You Can’t Watch It At All
Kevin Cosnter's movie Dragonfly is so bad that it isn't available to stream anywhere.
Before he starred in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, Kevin Costner was the king of hit and miss movies. An active thespian since 1981, the Waterworld actor has 65 acting credits to his name, and half of them are excellent films that are Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, while just as many (if not more) are total flops. However, none of Costner’s mediocre movies come even close to comparing with the actor’s worst film, Dragonfly, which is so bad that no streaming platform is willing to buy the rights.
If one thing is made clear from the actor’s roles in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Field of Dreams, and the fact that It’s A Wonderful Life is his favorite film, Kevin Costner loves his sappy movies. He loves the sap so much that it seems as though the actor is willing to take on any role built on a bit of tenderness. This is probably why the Yellowstone actor accepted the lead in Dragonfly, not knowing it would end up becoming his worst movie.
Dragonfly stars Kevin Costner as Dr. Joe Darrow, a man who’s lost his wife. After she’s died, the patients in the hospital where they both worked begin having near-death experiences, and when they awake, they tell Joe that his wife (Susana Thompson) has a message for him. Strangely, they all show him the same weird cross symbol, which Joe doesn’t understand.
Eventually, Kevin Costner’s character finds out what the cross symbol means, and he follows the hint to Venezuela, which is where his wife passed away. Here, a twist wraps up the film with a happy ending.
Dragonfly is a film that doesn’t know what genre it wants to be. It acts like a thriller but has elements of fantasy, mystery, and drama as well. At the end of the day, it’s the indistinct genre matched with the over-the-top sappiness and melancholy that made critics on Rotten Tomatoes decide that this tops the cake as Kevin Costner’s worst film.
The review aggregator site rated this Kevin Costner movie at seven percent, which is extremely low considering that Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, which is often considered the worst movie ever made, is rated at 26 percent. Unfortunately, where Wiseau’s The Room is redeemable in just how laughably bad it is, Dragonfly is just sad, which makes it bad without redeemability.
The general consensus from critics on Rotten Tomatoes called the film “Sappy, dull, and muddled, Dragonfly is too melancholic and cliched to generate much suspense.” While the critics weren’t overly thrilled with Kevin Costner’s acting in what would become his worst movie ever, most of the complaints were aimed at the writers, Brandon Camp, Mike Thompson, and David Seltzer, with one critic calling the script “Boring, phony and a complete waste of talent.” Mostly, critics found the film lacking the depth or suspense that a supernatural film like this should have.
On the other hand, audience members didn’t hate the film as much as the professional critics did. While no one was jumping up and down with excitement after watching it, the audience score for the film came in way higher, awarding Kevin Costner’s worst movie a 62 percent approval. This means that while the film wasn’t considered Certified Fresh (the movie would have had to have a 70 percent approval rating to earn that title), it was considered a genuine popcorn flick that is enjoyable enough to pass the time with.
At the end of the day, however, even the audience’s lukewarm sentiments around this Kevin Costner movie weren’t enough to save it. Dragonfly was made on a budget of $60 million, but it only managed to bring in $52.3 million in sales, making it not only one of the worst movies by critical standards but a financial flop as well.
Kevin Costner’s worst movie was directed by Tom Shadyac, who is most known for directing comedies like Jim Carrey’s Ace Ventura and Liar Liar. Dragonfly was Shadyac’s second attempt at making a heartfelt sap story, following Patch Adams a few years prior. However, while Patch Adams had Robin Williams’ charm to bring in a bit of comedic balance, Shadyac’s choice of casting sappy Costner in an already melancholic film was a recipe for disaster.
Luckily for both filmmakers, Dragonfly wasn’t the end of their careers, despite being one of the worst movies ever made. Shadyac has continued directing in Hollywood and has two productions currently in the works, while Kevin Costner has made a name for himself in Westerns with Yellowstone and his upcoming Horizon.
