STAYING ALIVE NOT SO EASY FOR HUTTON.

Byline: - David Kronke

IN THE NEW Sci Fi Channel miniseries ``Five Days to Midnight,'' widower and physics professor J.T. Neumeyer (Timothy Hutton) brings his daughter to a surprise birthday party that ritual insists is no surprise at all. The production itself, on the other hand, has a few surprises up its sleeve - namely, to what genre does it belong?

Its science-fiction aspect - J.T. comes upon a high-tech briefcase from the future - is really the least of it. It's largely a Hitchcockian innocent-man-on-the-lam caper, as that briefcase contains all the particulars of a murder case - his own, in a seedy strip bar - except, of course, the name of the assailant. There's a bit of a film-noir element, too, as his current girlfriend (Kari Matchett) has what they like to call ``a past,'' and the man from said past (Angus MacFadyen) won't win any good-citizenship trophies anytime soon.

Throw in a little tinge of psychological thriller - his star student (Hamish Linklater) may also be an unhinged stalker - and a dysfunctional family subplot, as well, since his large-living brother-in-law (David McIlwraith) engages in some petty financial squabbles with J.T. And then, of course, there's the cop (Randy Quaid) whose allegiances sometimes seem suspect.

``Five Days' '' gimmick, such as it is, is that each installment encompasses the day it appears on TV - tonight's episode is June 7, and so on. J.T. is loath to take the contents of the briefcase too seriously until events conspire that force him to: He receives a parka in which he will ostensibly die, his rental car is the vehicle found outside the strip club the day of his murder.

The whole can-you-change-the-future angle has gotten pretty common of late: Witness the TV shows ``Early Edition'' and ``Tru Calling'' and the film ``Minority Report,'' which all erase the novelty of this premise. This production suggests that altering fate messes with the physics of the universe but goes through some pretty Herculean plot manipulation to do so. And it doesn't help that a lot of scenes are shot in a bleary, stop-motion fashion associated with the sort of cheesy, direct-to-video films of the '80s that invariably found their way onto ``Mystery Science Theater 3000.''

What ultimately undoes ``Five Days to Midnight'' (actually, he's supposed to die at 3:55 a.m., but that wouldn't be nearly as catchy a title) is its sloppy plotting: This is one of those things where characters either refuse to listen to pertinent information or, for reasons known only to themselves, decline to ask obvious questions that might clear up some of the murk.

And there's really no reason for the story to last five hours: Far more complicated tales have been told in far less time. Naturally, there's a lot of padding: No one will be seated during tonight's opening-the-briefcase sequence, and tomorrow's photocopying montage is almost as bereft of drama.

Hutton and Matchett give earnestly dour performances, while those playing some of the suspects stray over the lines into pure camp, which can be mildly enjoyable but hardly serves the taut suspense the filmmakers are endeavoring to manufacture. Sci Fi Channel has made its name on its previous miniseries ``Taken'' and ``Battlestar Galactica,'' but this isn't likely to burnish its reputation further.

FIVE DAYS TO MIDNIGHT - Two and one half stars

What: A physics professor (Timothy Hutton) receives a briefcase from the future warning him he will die later this week. Who wants him dead? And can he alter fate?

Where: Sci Fi Channel.

When: 9 tonight, continuing nightly through Friday.

In a nutshell: An occasionally over-the-top multigenre mystery.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Randy Quaid, left, is a cop the marked-for-dead Timothy Hutton probably shouldn't trust in the five-hour ``Five Days to Midnight.''