SEARCH
R | 1h 50m | Drama, Satire, Thriller, Crime | 2026
If there’s one thing that the media in general and U.S. television are quite good at, it’s adapting to style changes, trends, and what’s hot and what’s not.
Finding out what works like metaphorical catnip for audiences is about creating something so compelling that they can’t look away. It’s like a wreck you pass on the other side of the highway. Director Lance Oppenheim’s film about a television series shows what an up-and-coming journalist does to keep people watching week to week.
In “Primetime,” journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) knows this all too well. He realizes fluffy human-interest stories are a dime a dozen, but true horrific scandals are the gold at the end of the rainbow.
After 12 years bouncing from one local NBC affiliate to the next, Hanson joined the newly formed “Dateline” investigative team and made an immediate impression. He reported on the top stories of the time, including the Unabomber, the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Columbine High School massacre, and the TWA Flight 800 disaster.
Just Another Reporter
As good as Hansen’s work may or may not have been, and as pleased his bosses were, he was just one of dozens of reporters covering the same tragedy. He needed something to separate him from the pack. Hansen found his answer with “To Catch a Predator.”
The “Predator” series was already well underway when “Primetime” had started, with Hansen and his assembled team already having their formula nailed.
Joining host Hansen is his producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), a computer geek who “phishes” online for adult men looking for underage companionship, and Del Harvey (singer Phoebe Bridgers), an adult female whose youthful appearance allows her to pass for both underage boys and girls.
A Simple Plan
The plan was simple but effective. It has already been determined that the men are looking for physical intimacy when Von Erck lures a suspect to a safe house and Harvey invites them in. The men always bring alcohol; once they are in, Hanson emerges from the shadows spouting his trademark quip, “What are you doing here?”
The suspects deny their dishonorable intent and quickly exit the house, only to be swarmed by heavily armed authorities. Pretty soon, the president of NBC (Jeff Zucker as himself) recognizes that the “Predator” is ready for prime time, and the rest is history, sort of.
First-time live-action feature director Lance Oppenheim bursts out of the starting blocks at a full gallop. Most audience members will be immediately hooked, not unlike the millions of viewers who return every week for more of the same.
Stumbling Block
The big stumbling block facing the show is its tendency to repeatedly top itself. How many times can these essentially interchangeable predators get busted before the audiences start getting bored, or worse, indifferent?
Bender hires a second “bait” actor, the 23-year-old Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo) who easily passes for 13 or 14, but it’s clear he is ill-prepared for the gig. Plum only wants the job for a screen credit to get his S.A.G. card, but after a while he gets the hang of it.
At this point, it’s clear that Hansen is only in it for the almighty ratings. He disregards his co-workers and family to almost reptilian levels. Like the lead characters in “Network,” “To Die For,” and “Nightcrawler,” Hansen lives only for fame and the limelight. By the halfway point, Hansen is a spent, empty vessel, which does little to slow down his ambition.
The halfway point is where Oppenheim (whose resume consists solely of documentaries) loses the direction of where he wants the plot to go, so it goes both nowhere and everywhere all at once. For most of the second half, the movie flounders. It is only with a last-minute jolt to the system that it partially recovers.
Also helping in this regard are the thoroughly immersed and committed performances of the four principal performers.
The Moral Compass
The most impressive in the least showy role is Gisondo. He’s the moral compass of the lot who eventually realizes that Hansen and NBC might deliberately be engaging in some loose form of entrapment.
There is no arguing that the adult men are up to no good. It’s clear from the get-go. However, as the show progresses further and it becomes more desperate for ratings, their bar for illegal activity, or rather, the appearance of intent for illegal activity, gets continually lowered.
This also brings up serious legal questions. Is showing intent of committing a crime the same as actually committing one? It also becomes apparent that Hansen, his staff, and NBC were counting on embarrassing and shaming the would-be pedophiles; they counted on this being more embarrassing than an actual arrest and a trial that any first-year law student could successfully defend.
In her mostly thankless role, Bridgers raises nonchalance to an art form. She really is neutral. For her, it is just a job.
For Maher and Wever, their characters (both fictional composites) wish their actions would last forever. But they also seem relieved that they’re not onscreen.
As Hansen, Pattinson delivers yet another riveting performance in what is now a string of them. After impressing a few as the male lead in the “Twilight” franchise, Pattinson set about proving he could provide the goods, and he has done so with consistency for well over a decade.
He is one of the most talented actors working today and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty (see “The Odyssey”) in the process.
The movie is now playing in theaters.
‘Primetime’
Director: Lance Oppenheim
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to features@epochtimes.nyc
