Primetime feels like a fever dream before you even see it.
Lance Oppenheimer, who’s teamed with Nathan Fielder for the upcoming documentary on Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything, directs a drama based on the events surrounding the reality TV series To Catch a Predator. Chris Hansen, the American journalist who became known for his practiced poise as he confronted alleged pedophiles before hidden cameras, was once revered as a hero for his entrepreneurial journalism. But the tide has turned on Hansen. Last year saw the release of the documentary Predators, which rigorously re-evaluated To Catch a Predator‘s practices and how it inspired more reckless imitators. Now comes Primetime, where The Batman‘s Robert Pattinson reimagines Hansen as a fame-hungry monster.
As attorney-turned-foe Two-Face said in The Dark Knight, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Now is Hansen’s time.
Primetime is a horror movie about blind ambition.
Credit: A24
Based on the 2007 Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die,” Primetime pitches audiences into the heyday of To Catch a Predator, when the recurring Dateline special report got promoted to (you guessed it) primetime. Hansen is the face of the series. But he is aided by a team that includes nerves-of-steel producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), internet researcher Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), and two young actors (Phoebe Bridgers and Skyler Gisondo), who serve as decoys for the kids the men think they’ve been chatting with online. In reality, these men have been talking with Perverted Justice, a vigilante group that teamed up with Hansen for these on-camera stings.
With the move to a more demanding time slot, Chris and his crew are challenged to make their catches even more dramatic. So, when Xavier insists he’s hooked a “big fish” in Texas who he believes works for the government, Chris pushes forward, despite the warnings from Andie about such hastiness. They’ve already got a setup in Jersey, good to go! But Chris has his eyes on besting Dateline co-host Stone Phillips (Bill Heck), whose steely masculinity makes the To Catch A Predator host seethe with jealousy.
To make his TV show stand out, Chris will stop at nothing. He’ll brush off calls from his wife (Anna Farris), placate his mistress, and manipulate Dan Plumb (Gisondo), an earnest young actor who’s desperate to get his SAG card through his work on the show. But when reality comes crashing into this scenario, there will be blood. And the show will go on.
Robert Pattinson is wickedly hilarious as Chris Hansen.
Credit: A24
Primetime is more a psychological thriller than a comedy, but there’s no arguing that Pattinson is hysterical in this role. His daffy swagger seen in off-the-wall interviews is eradicated. He’s expertly swapped his English accent for a stern American anchor tone that is eerily in line with the real Hansen’s. When he tells a fretful stranger (Tony Revolori) to “take a seat,” this To Catch a Predator viewer experienced a chilling thrill of recognition. Pattinson’s voice alone could transport the audience back to 2004, when Americans tuned in to watch some perverted form of justice play out on TV as armed officers would tackle one suspect after another for our entertainment.
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Primetime begins with Chris practicing this persona, reciting his questions and quoting the inappropriate chat messages sent by the vexed visitor. But this performance lives outside of the show’s sting house. In one outrageous moment, Chris answers his cell phone in this voice, saying intensely, “This is Chris Hansen.” On the other end, his wife is flustered in a way that suggests this is not a one-off. She’s lost her husband to his show, and she knows it.
In this role, Pattinson taps into the dark side of the American Dream, like Jake Gyllenhaal did in Nightcrawler, or (another Batman) Christian Bale did in American Psycho. But Pattinson’s take is less manic than if-it-bleeds-it-leads cameraman Lou Bloom or pop-music-fixated Patrick Bateman. While tied to the real Hansen’s speech patterns and physicality, Pattinson’s performance is heightened sharply in anchorman intensity, as if it’s a funhouse mirror version, or a TEMU Halloween mask of Hansen. It’s scarily accurate and exaggerated just enough to be haunting. This theatrical interpretation of the newsman urges audiences to question who Hansen is behind his mask of journalistic respectability. It’s little wonder the real Hansen, who hasn’t seen the film, isn’t pleased about it. Even the trailer for Primetime hints at this depiction.
Primetime could — and should — go harder.
Credit: A24
Surrounding Pattinson is a terrifically talented cast. Three-time Emmy winner Wever is sharp as a tack as the producer, who’s constantly compromising her own morals for her work. The role, as written in Ajon Singh’s stodgy screenplay, could have felt like a tedious archetype of the motherly figure trying to rein in the bad boys of news. But Wever injects a surliness and flushes of doubt that complicate Andie. She’s the voice of reason and an enabler, which makes Wever’s onscreen dynamic with Pattinson electrifying. With each scene, it’s uncertain who’ll win their battle of wills.
Maher, beloved for Our Flag Means Death, revels in being a self-righteous dirtbag here. Meanwhile, Bridgers, who makes her acting debut here, has a compelling screen presence that translates from her music videos. But here, she’s gruffer and more opaque, displaying not vulnerability or resilience but the armor demanded by this decoy role. When her Del instructs new-to-the-team Dan about how to best cope with the uncomfortable scenarios he’ll be a part of, she takes on the tone of a been-there-done-that older sister. And in response, Gisondo, playing a thinly veiled version of Dan Schrack, the To Catch a Predator decoy interviewed in Predators, is the film’s thumping heart.
Tapping into the same boyish nervousness he channeled in Santa Clarita Diet and Haunted Hotel, Gisondo translates the discomfort and terror of being bait. Early on, an awkward encounter with a lured subject is played for dark laughs. But to Oppenheimer’s credit, he leans into the discomfort by sticking with Dan. Unfortunately, in its final act, Primetime loses its nerve.
If you saw Predators, read the Esquire article, or just remember the scandal that arose out of Murphy, Texas, after Hansen’s shoot, you’ll know how Primetime ends. Maybe that’s why it falls flat? It’s not that the real-life results weren’t shocking and horrific. It’s that Primetime‘s depiction of them feels oddly restrained.
Leaning into some arguably xenophobic supernatural iconography, Primetime tries to add some surreal spookiness to the final act. But this abrupt plunge into ghostly flair feels disconnected from how beguiling and unnerving Pattinson is in this role. It’s his movie, but Oppenheimer retreats from him in the end in favor of a final scene that feels dully cynical.
I was left wishing Primetime had the guts to follow the dark path this heightened Hansen charted to somewhere deranged, perhaps providing a more satisfying ending than real life (and reality TV) has. Chase those midnight movie vibes that Pattinson has coursing through his final act into something damning and daring! Or, don’t, I guess.
While Primetime is exhilarating and disturbing thanks to its sensational cast, a flimsy conclusion has this film end with a whimper instead of a bang.
Primetime is now in theaters.
