Primetime
★★★½ · 3.5/5 · 2026
Watched on November 10, 2026
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo
Director: Lance Oppenheim
Cinematography: David Bolen
Writer: Ajon Singh
Editor: Daniel Garber
Composers: Ari Balouzian
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Primetime is definitely carried by its performances. It wouldn't work nearly as well if Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo weren't as good as they are. Those two are the biggest focal points of the movie, and they manage to do a lot of the heavy lifting. That's not to say the rest is bad, but there are a few areas that are lacking.
Pattinson has become a go-to casting choice for absolute weirdo characters. His version of Chris Hansen is weird enough to the point where I had to wonder how much of it mirrors the real guy. I'm not super familiar with Hansen or his work - I'd catch the occasional snippet on TV late at night years ago, but I wouldn't be able to tell you much about him. Therefore, I'm not sure where the impression ended and Pattinson's fun began. A few moments came off as a bit extreme or cartoonish, but it's always cool to see Pattinson doing his thing.
They did a great job capturing the early 2000s. The enormous amount of film grain provides the perfect television texture for the time, and the clothes, props, and sets all look just right. I especially loved all of the silly phones that were used throughout the film. It's a great-looking movie in its own right. The strangeness in the plot is echoed by the strangeness in the cinematography. As the subject matter becomes more uncomfortable, the visuals start to get a little trippy. A few visual decisions felt unnecessarily dramatic for the scene, but I generally appreciated the creativity.
To Catch a Predator is a fascinating idea for a show. On one hand, it's easy to see the value in wanting to catch predatory adults, but there's also something unsettling about wanting to turn such an event into entertainment for the world to see. I thought Primetime handled the tension and moral evolution of the show very well. I liked that the filmmakers gave viewers enough space to decide where they would draw the line themselves, instead of harshly taking a stance.
I feel like this movie was a tad overhyped. The story is a series of events that don't consistently build on each other, making them feel like they were intended to pad runtime or generate more bizarre moments. I mostly felt that with Hansen's affair and family matters. There's certainly some value in spending some time with Hansen away from the camera, but a more relevant approach would have felt smoother. Since Pattinson and Gisondo do such a great job under the pressure of the show, I was much more interested in what was going on after the cameras rolled.
At the end of the day, this is a mild case of style over substance. The story is short enough that the padding doesn't feel too obvious, and the leads were talented enough to earn my focus. I got what I wanted out of this - an examination of the morality of Hansen's character, the television show, and the people who watched it at the time.
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