If you are a millennial, there is no doubt you watched To Catch a Predator growing up. Whether your parents should have let you is another story. The idea of catching these horrible people combined with Chris Hansen’s iconic line, “Why don’t you take a seat right over there?” is permanently etched into our collective consciousness. Of course, most of us were young back then, and I would wager that even the majority of older viewers were caught up in the drama—never considering the real driver behind it all: money and ratings. Enter A24’s Primetime, which takes us into that seedy network underbelly to reveal what the show was actually about.
Based loosely on Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article, “Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die,” Primetime takes a look at the rise and fall of Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson), a news correspondent whose idea for a new series about catching child predators begins to take off. He is buoyed by his producer Andie (Merritt Wever), who does her best to keep him grounded even as the show catapults him to new levels of fame—including the coveted 9 PM slot where the country’s biggest shows compete for attention. Trying constantly to one-up himself, Hansen hunts for a bigger name to bust, which eventually leads him to a “whale”: a government official whose downfall could shake the foundations of the show and leave the network more prosperous than ever. That is, if everyone survives the night of the big reveal.
For those unaware, we are entering what the movie industry calls “Prestige Season”—a time when big studios start releasing their “important” films in hopes of securing year-end awards. This is when screeners flood in featuring big-name actors struggling with illnesses, donning heavy prosthetics to show off their acting chops, or starring in biographical dramas. It is part of the reason we are getting Primetime right now.
That said, calling it a biopic isn’t entirely fair. Sure, it’s based on real-life TV host Chris Hansen, but it’s so loosely tied to reality that it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t. Hansen was not involved in the production whatsoever and has written the project off as pure fantasy since seeing it. In fact, Merritt Wever’s character, Andie, doesn’t even exist in real life—she is an amalgam of multiple network producers.
So, what is Primetime trying to accomplish? Cynically, you could say it exists to win awards, and while that’s part of it, there is a solid story here—just one you need to take with a massive grain of salt.
A24 is obviously pushing Pattinson for awards, but I don’t think this is his year. Don’t get me wrong: he’s a fantastic actor who has grown significantly since his Twilight days. The issue here is that we don’t see Chris Hansen—we just see Pattinson doing an impression of him.
If anything, the film could arguably exist simply to showcase Skyler Gisondo as “Decoy” Dan Plum. As the naïve wannabe actor just trying to get his SAG card who gets wrapped up in the glitz, glamour, and infamy of the show, his wide-eyed reaction to everything going on around him makes him the true standout. Even if the studio isn’t pushing him for Best Supporting Actor, he deserves the spotlight far more than Pattinson.
Acting aside, this is a highly accomplished psychological thriller that grabs your attention from the opening scene and never lets go until long after the credits roll. It works because it forces you to second-guess the premise of the show itself: Was it really meant to catch bad guys, or just boost the creators’ fame? We don’t really get a definitive answer because, again, this is highly fictionalized, making it hard to tell where truth ends and the screenwriter’s imagination begins. The real answers might lie in the Sundance documentary Predators, so if you want the true story, definitely check that out.
So, do I still think this movie exists to win awards? Yes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing when a film is this well made—and Primetime definitely is. While I wish we had gotten a genuine performance out of Pattinson rather than a caricature, Skyler Gisondo more than makes up for it, making me excited to follow his career. Primetime paints Chris Hansen’s tenure on To Catch a Predator as a case of a monster catching monsters—a theme that will stick with you and make you question other hugely popular true-crime shows. That’s actually a great thing; we should always scrutinize the real motivations behind our entertainment. Primetime isn’t the biopic many were expecting. Instead, it’s a fanciful, bumpy trip down memory lane designed to be pure entertainment—so take a seat right over there and enjoy the ride.
★★★☆
