For such an original entertainer, Evel Knievel draws a hackneyed film biography.

The daredevil motorcyclist used to leap over cars, buses and fountains with a showman’s flair that astonished fans. TNT’s movie “Evel Knievel” trips over cliches at nearly every turn and will astound no one.

The film, premiering today, has tapped the right actor to play Knievel. Former “CSI” star George Eads, with his dashing grin, brings a prankster’s sense of fun to the role.

Then Evel Knievel starts to mire him in marital arguments, family tragedy and nasty behavior. The movie unfolds like a love story gone wrong, a down-home version of “A Star Is Born.”

That would be fine if director John Badham and writer Jason Horwitch had the skill to negotiate the tricky turns in Knievel’s life. They don’t. Knievel inexplicably turns into a jerk, and the fun goes out of the movie.

The film charts how Knievel puts mundane living behind him, vowing, “My life may be short, but it’s going to be anything but dull.”

His stunts grow increasingly elaborate. His motorcycle-riding tricks graduate from jumping caged snakes to scaling Las Vegas fountains. The latter challenge leaves him with severe injuries and the possibility of never walking again.

Knievel, of course, confounds his physicians, resumes performing and grows into a folk hero. He tries his biggest stunt by jumping the Snake River Canyon using a rocketlike contraption.

Evel Knievel also explores his marriage to Linda (Jaime Pressly), who stands by her man despite his injuries, womanizing and dismissive behavior. The appealing Pressly must slog through mighty soggy material.

The stunts are a lot more fun than the marital discord. But the movie never pulls together a cohesive portrait of Knievel. Is it celebrating him or questioning his choices?

The film skims the darker sides of stardom and the toll it takes on Knievel. He might have carried on like Gen. George Patton publicly, but Knievel had his private moments of doubt.

As he should have. In a career that lasted from 1965 to 1980, he broke 35 bones and required major surgery after more than a dozen crashes.

In this disappointing movie, the supporting actors make vivid impressions even when their roles are slight. Beau Bridges is appealingly gruff as Knievel’s future father-in-law.

Fred Dalton Thompson of “Law & Order” has a sly touch as a casino boss won over by Knievel’s flamboyance. Lance Henriksen is almost unrecognizable as a scraggily Knievel pal – a role so underwritten you have to wonder why the actor took it.

More probing writing would have served those actors and the movie. But “Evel Knievel” certainly has the curiosity factor going for it.

CSI fans will tune in to see what else Eads can do after his dismissal from the CBS drama in a salary dispute. In “Evel Knievel,” he doesn’t seem to age or suffer credibly. And still, he charms. Perhaps he can scale this new career hurdle.

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EVEL KNIEVEL

2 stars (out of 5)

Cast: George Eads, Jaime Pressly, Lance Henriksen, Fred Dalton Thompson, Beau Bridges.

Where and when: The TNT movie debuts at 8 p.m. EDT Friday and repeats at 10 that night. It also shows at 9 p.m. Saturday and at 8 p.m. Aug. 1.

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(c) 2004, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-07-23-04 1121EDT

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