Parker can't redeem this messy mystery

So I like a little foreplay. "The Robber Bride," based on Margaret Atwood's 1993 novel, jumps right into its twisty mystery plot without so much as a hint of ado. The movie, which premieres tonight at 8 on Oxygen, doesn't even try to make us care for the characters first. The messy script, by Tassie Cameron , simply tosses a bunch of scenes at us, leaving us to draw the links between them and bridge the gaps if we're so inclined.

I was not so inclined, even with Mary-Louise Parker on hand to give the movie a little bit of distinction. "The Robber Bride" is about Parker's Zenia Arden, a woman who ruins the lives of three friends she knew in college. Zenia is a consummate liar who seduces people into trusting her and then betrays them. When Zenia's severed finger is found near a car that's stained with her blood, she is presumed to be dead, and her cop boyfriend is thrown into jail. But he's innocent. Zenia is still alive, and she has a few more sinister deeds up her sleeve. On her agenda: To misuse an ex-cop named John Grismer (Shawn Doyle ) who, for some inexplicable reason, is trying to help her.

While the pace of the movie is brisk enough, the tone is as hollow as Zenia's moral center. The characters are weary and underdeveloped, which doesn't stop some of the cast from overacting -- never a good combination. Zenia's trio of female victims is played by Susan Lynch , Wendy Crewson , and Amanda Root as if they're perpetually haunted and freaked out. Their respective relationships with the chameleonic woman who hurt them are barely explored. They come across not as individuals so much as a mini class-action suit against Zenia. Doyle, too, seems simultaneously agitated and flat.

Only Parker finds her balance, making Zenia believable as both a femme fatale and as a pathetic victim. She manages to make us wonder if Zenia isn't really so bad, even while we know she is. But Parker can't provide the movie with the narrative power and character motivation it lacks, nor can she invest the unfolding mystery with larger themes about the relationships between women and the ambiguity of guilt. Her performance may be good, but it's not miraculous.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.