deserves recognition for : achieving the near-impossible task of making a grander monument to self-love than steven seagal's on deadly ground . 
capsule review : a question : after the floating baby ruth that was waterworld , what in the @$&% were the hollywood execs who gave kevin costner the money to make another post-apocalyptic movie thinking ? 
in this 3 hour advertisement for his new hair weave , costner plays a nameless drifter who dons a long dead postal employee's uniform and gradually turns a nuked-out usa into an idealized hippy-dippy society . 
 ( judging by the costuming at the end of the movie , the main accomplishment of this brave new world is in re-inventing polyester . ) 
when he's not pointing the camera directly at himself , director costner does have a nice visual sense , and it is undeniably fascinating to see such an unabashedly jingoistic film in the trust-no-one 90's ; but by the time the second hour rolled around , i was reduced to sitting on my hands to keep from clawing out my own eyes . 
mark this one " return to sender " .