Primetime
In 2006, after his 'To Catch a Predator' segment on Dateline caught fire, CEO and President of NBC Universal Television Group Jeff Zucker (Jeff Zucker) called Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) and his producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever, TV's 'Nurse Jackie,' 'Severance') into his office to tell them two things - that he wasn't a fan of their show, but because the public liked it, he was pitting it against the hit series 'Lost' on "Primetime."
Laura's Review: B
Documentarian Lance Oppenheim ("Some Kind of Heaven") makes his feature debut with a stylishly nightmarish take on the Chris Hansen predatory prime time series previously explored in the 2025 documentary "Predators." Featuring an uncanny-verging-on-demonic Robert Pattinson performance, a shockingly cutthroat Wever and a sweetly naive Skyler Gisondo in his own mini coming-of-age story, "Primetime" is a prime example of ends not justifying means.
Wisely, debuting screenwriter Ajon Singh's adaptation of the article by Luke Dittrich keeps his protagonist's psyche wavering between true moral indignation and self-interest, introducing Hansen as he repeats 'I will undress you and you will undress me' into a mirror, particularly relishing the word 'lubricant,' rolling it around on his tongue. These are the words MarriedAndLookingForFun31313 (Tony Revolori, "The Grand Budapest Hotel") sent to Del (Phoebe Bridgers), a decoy posing as a thirteen year-old who will lure the first aspiring pedophile we'll witness Hansen catch on camera, reality TV replacing the town pillory of yore. It is a pitiful scene, the mark curling into a fetal position and responding 'the electric chair?' when Hansen asks what should be done to him. When he leaves the home he didn't realize was a set, he'll be surrounded by arresting police.
High on his sting and promotion to prime time, Hansen returns to a home that doesn't appear very happy, his idea of connecting with his two young sons previewing his upcoming episode of 'Predator,' then lying to his wife ("Scary Movie's" Anna Faris) about it before supplicating himself at her feet. She appears unmoved. We'll also touch base with Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo, "Book Smart," 2025's "Superman") excitedly telling a friend he's gotten a gig that offers $5K for each of three appearances, then calling the same friend from a rather ordinary looking Florida motel room thinking he's made it. He'll also arrive late to a set where Del is refusing to perform because of the salacious merchandise for sale on the show's website and where Andie quickly changes his clothes and thrusts him, unrehearsed, into a shocking spotlight. (He won't be the only one to be shocked when we learn that, yes, that's Jonathan Lipnicki, the kid from "Jerry Maguire," exposing himself with a can of Reddi Whip at the ready.) Andie realizes the optics of what just happened with the young actor are not good and convinces Chris to schmooze the kid, Hansen convincing 'Dan the Decoy' he's doing more than acting, he's a savior of children.
This is where Oppenheim begins to spin into the surreal, a silver bracelet Dan asks about leading Chris to relate his experience reporting on disappearing children in southern India, the culprit visualized as some kind of folkloric demon, cinematographer David Bolen suggesting a parallel by casting Pattinson's close-up into shadow (Bolen also employs the same saturated color that popped in "Some Kind of Heaven"). Hansen's obsessions ramp up when Xavier (Matthew Maher, "Air"), the man who lures suspects posing as a juvenile via the Perverted Justice website, informs Chris he's found a 'whale,' someone connected to Government in Texas, and Chris upends Andie's production to grab what he thinks is his brass ring before the National Enquirer publishes photos of him with his mistress Krysten (Caroline Hebert).
Andie, who's being wooed by Patty Patterson (Jessica Hecht, "Dan in Real Life") to produce a competing show, aggressively tells Hansen off, believing he's unraveling as well as overstepping. She doesn't like the fact that now the show is going to the perp, reversing their usual formula, with local police chief Cortland Gunn (Bokeem Woodbine, "Queen & Slim") outraged by what he's learned about D.A. Bill Conradt (Alex Winter, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure") gunning to get the guy.
That last act is increasingly bizarre, Oppenheim alternating between Hansen's head space and long shots of a large, combined police and production presence gathering on the perp's front lawn leading up to the suicide which would put the show under a microscope. The filmmaker flits among three main points of view - Hansen's, Andie's and Dan's - one obsessed, one coldly practical, the latter an audience stand-in, but they never add up to as clear a picture of just how everything went down as one would hope. Bolen's frequent use of extreme close-ups adds to the overall aura of egomaniacal delusion which Oppenheim favors here over straight facts. This is not a fictionalized version of the "Predators" documentary, but a portrait of a man obsessed spiraling.
While that approach largely works, Pattinson's performance in sync with Oppenheim's vision, other decisions feel off, the decoys here sometimes too sexually aggressive, undercutting the underage naivete they should be projecting. At one point, Dan slips into Hansen's schtick, Gisondo portraying the young actor as very conflicted but charmed by the show's ringmaster. Oppenheim chooses this dilemma to wrap with a 'one year later' epilogue that delivers irony on a platter.
A24 releases "Primetime" in theaters on 9/25/26.
