Can the dead communicate with the living? In Dragonfly, Dr. Joe Darrow, played sympathetically by Kevin Costner, never thought so. But strange things begin to happen to this emergency physician after he loses his pregnant wife, a pediatric oncologist, in a terrible accident. A corpse speaks to him; children in the cancer ward where his wife worked before her death start drawing mysterious crucifix-shaped symbols; one tiny patient calls out to him on his death bed; and dragonflies --- his wife’s personal totem because of a birthmark on her shoulder --- show up everywhere.

Is Joe hallucinating out of grief, or is his dead wife trying to tell him something? Setting the stage for what could have been a riveting supernatural thriller like The Sixth Sense or The Others, filmmakers opt instead to dwell on "crossing over" mumbo jumbo, manipulative sentimentality, and sappy dialogue like "She was the heart; you’re the brain; and together you made an unbeatable team."

Fortunately, the film’s performances rise above all this. Costner (3,000 Miles to Graceland) gets into his role with convincing spurts of rage and sadness over the loss of his true soul mate. Oscar-winner Kathy Bates (Misery) takes charge of the screen in her few scenes as the helpful neighbor anyone would be lucky to have after tragedy strikes. Another Oscar-winner, Linda Hunt (The Year of Living Dangerously) piqued my curiosity with her insightful interpretation of a defiant Catholic nun censored for her work on near-death experiences.

And there’s beautiful Susanna Thompson (Random Hearts) who portrays Emily, the doctor’s saintly wife, with intelligence and passion. "This movie has surrounded me in magic," she declares. "In the Indian totem, the dragonfly is the shatterer of illusions, and in that shattering of illusions, there is great freedom."

With all due respect to Thompson, I must admit Dragonfly did not shatter any of my illusions concerning the need for coherent screenwriting and for competent editing. In one scene, when a grief counselor asks Joe if he really thinks his wife is trying to contact him, he looks thoughtful for a second before answering, "No, I don’t." Then, in the next sequence, he tells her, "I didn’t respond to your question about my wife, but I will now. Yes, I think she’s trying to reach me." Sheesh! Who took a nap at the wheel here?

Maybe I’m being too picky, but I need attention to little details like this in order to suspend disbelief while watching movies about ghosts and their adventures. I had no problem believing Haley Joel Osment saw "dead people" in The Sixth Sense because everything else fit together so well. And the surprise ending in The Others made sense to me because of the film’s excellent plot development.

Dragonfly also features a surprise ending --- one that pleased me because of its hopeful message. Director Tony Shadyac (Patch Adams) explains, "The process of making this film . . . allowed us to explore a dark, unknown area and emerge from the experience with a great sense of hope and light."

Still, the end doesn’t justify the means. I emerged from my Dragonfly viewing experience with a great sense of regret over what could have been a much better movie.

(Released by Universal Pictures and rated PG-13 for thematic material and mild sexuality.)