Poor old Kevin Costner - he's slipping into the acting equivalent of that twilight world inhabited by the likes of Bobby Davro, Les Dennis and Lennie Bennett.

It's a place where no-one really wants you, the phone stops ringing and you adopt increasingly desperate ploys to claw your way back to the big time.

Kevin was obviously impressed by The Sixth Sense... so he decides to borrow from it lock, stock and barrel, and also throw in bits of What Lies Underneath and Flatliners for good measure.

What you get is a hugely derivative movie which, despite its solid gold influences, manages to be deeply, all-embracingly and catatonically dull.

It doesn't help that Costner takes the lead as emergency doctor Joe Darrow, whose wife is killed in a mudslide while doing voluntary work in Venezuela.

Costner was never one of cinema's naturally dynamic performers but here he assumes his presence in every scene will lend it a brooding authority. It doesn't... it just bores the pants off you.

Dead spouse Emily (Susanna Thompson) appears to be trying to get in touch with him from the other side - he keeps hearing things and her favourite dragonflies appear outside.

The children at his hospital also tell him she wants to meet him "in the rainbow" so Joe starts doing some research of his own, reading books and consulting nuns.

Soon he realises he must travel to South America to see if his wife really is dead and it's not him going slowly round the twist.

Director Shadyac's background is in low but successful comedy such as Liar, Liar, The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Basically, he's no M Night Shyamalan and this is no Sixth Sense even if there are couple of moments which will have you jumping out of your seat.

Tim Evans