If you like Alley's antics, 'Write' works

People, what is up with Kirstie Alley's hair? Since "Cheers," Alley's ever-changing weight has been her signature issue, her comic calling card, as she has obsessed over poundage in People cover stories and on Showtime's "Fat Actress." But seriously, the hair is now making a power play for massive acclaim for its prominent role in her roles.

If you watch Lifetime's light-hearted "Write & Wrong," tomorrow night at 8, I promise you will be bewitched, and maybe bewildered, by her mane. Now flattened into a foot or two of silky bronze, the mop refuses to fall anywhere but directly on her face. And, apparently a supporter of free-range husbandry, she refuses to restrain it. So her hair becomes her prop, her instrument, her costar, as she spends two hours pulling it back from her kisser to deliver her lines.

But I digress, kind of. You have to like Alley and her hammy quirks in order to like "Write & Wrong." If you are a fan, you will be rewarded with a star vehicle that allows her to tear up the screen by shouting lines such as, "I am so on the wagon I'm driving the friggin' wagon." And you will see nothing more subtle than torment, distress, hysteria, and vengefulness, all delivered with not one but three exclamation points.

Of course, if you are not an Alley person, you should listen to your inner Monty Python and run away.

The comedy, directed by Graeme Clifford, who directed "Frances" in 1982, is about the trials of screenwriter Byrdie Langdon. Once nominated for an Oscar, Alley's Byrdie is approaching 50 and can no longer sell a script in Hollywood. She is forced to pitch her ideas to ageist, teenybopper executives such as Stacey Herskovitz (Britt Irvin), who is obsessed with the youth market. After Stacey calls Byrdie "vintage Hollywood," Byrdie is seen on her knees in the studio parking lot letting the air out of Stacey's tires and vowing revenge.

Byrdie's plan is to take a page out of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and get her 25-year-old nephew to market her material. Jason (Eric Christian Olsen) is a slick and charming car salesman, and he decides to quit his job to take Hollywood by storm armed with Byrdie's scripts. But using the script of "Kramer vs. Kramer" -- retitled as "Father and Son" -- as a way to get in the door is not the best of ideas. The scam backfires, jobs are put on the line, alcohol is consumed, love is lost, and love is found. Byrdie keeps bumping into charming novelist Ray McDeere (Peter Cockett), who is persistently -- and somewhat mysteriously -- drawn to her. Maybe it's the hair?

The rapport between Byrdie and her nephew is sweet, as they begin to enjoy their scheme and each other's company. The movie has a cuteness vibe that's easy to take, but it is awkwardly undercut by dramatic flourishes, such as Byrdie's drinking problem. The tone is oddly unsteady. Also, the story ends much too abruptly. A movie about good screenwriting, "Write & Wrong" should know the value of a satisfying finish.

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