Nbc World Premiere Movie Beauty's Revenge

 ((Mon. (25), 9-11 p.m., NBC))

By TONY SCOTT

Filmed in Vancouver by Steve White Entertainment, Crescent Entertainment and ACI. Exec producer, Steve White; co-exec producers, Duane Poole, Dan Bronson; producers, Lynne Bespflug, Jayme Pfahl; director, William A. Graham; writer, Poole; camera, Tony Westman; editor, Drake Silliman; production designer, Phil Schmidt; sound, Ralph Parker; music, Chris Boardman. #Cast: Courtney Thorne-Smith, Kyle Secor, Stephen Fanning, Tracey Gold, Ewan (Sudsy) Clark, Joely Collins, Don S. Davis, Bruce Harwood, Duane Keogh, David Lewis, Kevin McNulty, Chris Martin, Sheelah Megill, Jenny Mitchell, Larry Musser, Michael Roberds, Chantal Strand, Meredith Bain Woodward, Dean Wray, Bill Ferguson. Supposed thriller about an ex-cheerleader who kills off folks to win her heart's desire rings with the clank of old-hat meller plotting. Director William A. Graham, going for the obvious in Duane Poole's pedestrian thriller, achieves it; a killer TV movie, it won't leave a trace. Opening with the immediate murder of one of the principals, the vidpic folds back two months to pick up the pieces. Sexy, heartless Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith), local dairy queen living with her dad in a small town in the Midwest, casts her eye on secure, honorable Kevin (Kyle Secor), who's squiring pretty, everyday Beth (Tracey Gold).
 

But Beth and Kevin, who's working as a mechanic to buy back the family cowfarm, are that much in love.

Cheryl, lurching occasionally into fantasy flashes, has her work cut out as far as Kevin is concerned. Cheryl's more to be pitied than anything else because all these years her widowed dad (Larry Musser) hasn't shown her love; as a result Kevin's buddy Larry (Stephen Fanning) serves as a murder victim when Cheryl's upset. Kevin doesn't see through her overbaked vamping.

Graham gives his actors pretty free rein, so this vidpic doesn't go in for many nuances. Secor proves a sincere, rise-above-it hero, but Thorne-Smith finds little to make Cheryl credible. Gold works the loving Beth as an ingenue, probably only way to go, and Fanning's Larry is likable.

Poole's script is "inspired by a true story," the disclaimer warns, but some "plot elements" are "fictionalized"; names, locations, some events and characters are "altered for dramatic purposes." It boils down to fiction, and routine fiction at that.

Production by Lynne Bespflug and Jayme Pfahl looks OK, with Tony Westman's lensing serviceable, Drake Silliman's editing good. Phil Schmidt's design works well, and Chris Boardman's score is helpful.