`DOUBLE JEOPARDY' FULL OF HOLES.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

As an entertainment possibility, ``Double Jeopardy'' is a pretty risky bet.

Going for it is a no-nonsense lead performance by Ashley Judd, a solid but seen-that second lead from Tommy Lee Jones, unfussy and deft direction from ``Driving Miss Daisy's'' Bruce Beresford and a kicky central concept, which can basically be described as the Countess of Monte Cristo, with a gun.

But stacked up against the film is a pile of implausibilities that it simply doesn't possess the thrills or momentum to distract a viewer from. The script, by David Weisberg and Douglas S. Cook (``The Rock''), is neither clever enough to sustain intrigue nor psychologically astute enough to make much of this rare screen opportunity to examine a woman bent on violent, self-righteous vengeance.

The problems stem from a faulty basic premise. We're told that someone falsely convicted of murder can get away with actually killing the same person, since the constitutional protection against double jeopardy prohibits being tried twice for the same crime. Of course, the real murder in this particular scenario would be a wholly separate felony, committed at a different time and place, same victim or not.

But don't tell Hollywood that.

Anyway, the assumption that she can really blast it to her deceitful rat of a husband is all that gets Judd's Libby Parsons through her stint in a Washington state prison. Well, that and the fact that she's otherwise probably the most rational person who's ever been framed.

Seems her rich hubby Nick (Bruce Greenwood in a nicely slippery turn) had been doing some bad things at the bank. When he disappeared off a romantic sailboat overnighter, leaving blood smears and a big knife for Libby to pick up just as the Coast Guard arrived, she was the only plausible suspect.

Forget that a body was never found; Libby got convicted in no time flat, although she was able to turn over guardianship of her little boy, Matty, to best friend Angie (Annabeth Gish).

Predictably, Angie soon disappears. And when Libby finally tracks her down through the limited-access prison phone, guess whose voice is on the other end of the line?

Knowing Nick's alive and in possession of their son, Libby hits the workout yard. By the time she's paroled, she's a lean, mean, vengeance machine. But there's this problem: She's supposed to stay in a halfway house run by strict, trouble-pasted Travis Lehman (Jones), not a good situation for someone who needs to track her identity-switching ex across two-thirds of the country.

But Libby soon steals Travis' gun, and with him in hot pursuit heads down to New Orleans, where Nick has apparently reconstituted himself so Beresford can shoot lots of French Quarter color and stage a suspenseful encounter in one of those above-ground cemeteries.

Judd strikes a refreshingly consistent, implacable attitude early on in these proceedings; even when Libby gets sentimental, there's a canny, believable practicality behind it. Jones does a low-rent rendition of ``The Fugitive's'' Marshal Gerard; Travis has a drinking problem, one already wrecked career behind him and his own child custody problems, which of course makes him receptive to the possibility that Libby's loony story just might be true. Otherwise, Jones may as well be searching for a one-armed man.

Actually, his time might have been better spent figuring out how Libby got onto a commercial airliner carrying his gun in her backpack. Or what kind of insurance company pays death benefits to a murdering spouse. Or how a wealthy stranger could become a big-city socialite without anyone looking into his background.

Or, most puzzlingly, how scripts with as many holes in them as ``Double Jeopardy'' get made into straight-faced movies.

The facts

The film: ``Double Jeopardy'' (R; violence, language, sex, nudity).

The stars: Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Greenwood.

Behind the scenes:Directed by Bruce Beresford. Written by David Weisberg and Douglas S. Cook. Produced by Leonard Goldberg. Released by Paramount Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 46 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two and one half stars

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO When Ashley Judd's husband frames her for his staged murder, she decides to kill him, and Tommy Lee Jones tries to stop her, in ``Double Jeopardy.''