‘Primetime’ Review: Robert Pattinson Leads Lance Oppenheim’s Sharp ‘To Catch a Predator’ Biopic
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Readtime: 4 min
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Following his predatorial turn as the sleazy Antinous in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Robert Pattinson is back in cinemas catching predators as Dateline NBC’s Chris Hansen. Loosely based on a 2007 Esquire article titled ‘Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die’, Lance Oppenheim’s narrative feature debut Primetime takes an unconventional approach to the movie biopic.
Blurring the lines between drama, horror (Ari Aster is a producer), and black comedy, Oppenheim conceived the idea for Primetime after his wife, producer Abigail Rowe, paid Hansen to record a personalised video through the celebrity video-sharing website Cameo in celebration of Oppenheim’s 2024 documentary Sperm World. An electric fever dream built on the foundation of real events, Primetime is filled with filmmaking flair that intentionally distances its true-story roots.
What is ‘Primetime’? Inside Lance Oppenheim’s Unconventional Biopic
Dateline’s ‘To Catch a Predator’ segments were essentially a hidden camera show. Adult men arrived at houses expecting to have sex with a minor and blindly walked into a sting operation instead. Rather than a straightforward retelling of reality TV’s Wild West era, Oppenheim presents his own experience of the infamous segments, taking audiences back to the early aughts.
For viewers of a certain age, one of the most disturbing aspects of Primetime might be that it’s presented as a period film. Pop-culture enthusiasts will appreciate archival clips from Inside the Actors Studio, where Billy Bob Thornton discusses Sling Blade with host James Lipton and transforms into his iconic character Karl Childers. Dean Lipton would have been delighted by his appearance.
Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen: A Mesmerising, Detached Lead
Though he was initially a producer, the pitch to get Pattinson on screen as Hansen apparently involved a late-night script meeting over Four Loko, gummies, and other mid-2000s-inspired indulgences. While Pattinson is always mesmerising, his version of Hansen is often hard to identify with, despite the uncanny mannerisms. There’s more complexity and nuance to Merritt Wever as Hansen’s bloodlust producer Andie and Skyler Gisondo as the hapless hero ‘Decoy’ Dan.
Through the individual quandaries of his characters, Oppenheim asks engaging moral questions about the ways in which society is eager to condemn or define others. In that sense, the film itself works as a kind of entrapment for the audience, flipping the script on those who have already ‘taken a seat’ to ask, ‘Who is the predator here?’ The suggestion that predators are, in some way, also victims, likely won’t sit well with audiences, but maybe that’s Oppenheim’s point.
Fact vs. Fiction: How the Real Chris Hansen Responded to ‘Primetime’
It’s probably why Hansen himself wasn’t involved or asked to be involved. In conversation with Entertainment Tonight, Hansen shared, “It’s totally made up. And that’s the part of this that the public needs to know is that this is a work of fiction.” According to Hansen, he was shown the trailer and invited to an early screening, but only if he would sign a nondisclosure agreement, which he refused to do.
Despite using his name and work without permission, Hansen is turning Primetime to his advantage, purchasing ad space for his true-crime streaming network TruBlu prior to screenings and recording his podcast, Have A Seat with Chris Hansen, live from an NYC theatre to capture moviegoer reactions.
One of Pattinson’s best scenes sees The Office’s Creed Bratton in a fine cameo as a fellow passenger on an airplane, but the filmmakers missed a great opportunity to feature Terry O’Quinn in the bit part, as an homage to the later references of TV’s Lost. Primetime may be as heightened and unrealistic as reality TV itself, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling to watch. | Three Stars ★★★
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