Back in the early 2000s, Dateline NBC was a ratings powerhouse that could pull in anywhere from 9 to 14+ million viewers on any given evening, largely because people didn’t have many viewing options. Investigative reality TV To Catch a Predator attracted 7 to 10 million live viewers per episode, which turned host Chris Hansen into a household name. Now, I’ve never actually watched a full episode myself, but I did check out a handful of clips on YouTube ahead of watching this film.

Directed by Lance Oppenheim and written by Ajon Singh, this film is heavily inspired by Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire piece covering the case, titled “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die.” I’m glad I skipped that article beforehand, since it would’ve given away the film’s big twist. Let’s just say that Hansen did make television history in 2006, just not quite the way he—or anyone else—had envisioned.

I read that Robert Pattinson was initially set to produce this A24 project, but it’s a good thing that he decided to star in it as well. He’s got a real knack for bringing eccentric characters to life, and he’s able to channel Hansen’s mannerisms and flair for drama. When he delivered Hansen’s iconic line, ‘Why don’t you have a seat right over there?’ in that calm, deadpan way, the audience erupted in laughter and chuckles. It’s a career-best performance in a particularly hectic year for the 40-year-old Brit—the kind of work that could definitely earn him some significant recognition and major awards.

I didn’t catch until the final credits rolled that Ari Aster was involved as a producer. That explains the film’s dark psychological horror atmosphere and its indie horror sensibility. I’m not a horror fan, so I haven’t seen any of Aster’s directorial work before, though I did watch another film that he produced before this one, Dream Scenario. His creative fingerprints clearly influence the movie’s overall mood, transforming what could’ve been a straightforward media critique into a nightmarish experience. 

Cinematographer David Bolen brings inventive visual storytelling, using tight framing and figures positioned just beyond the frame to craft an intentionally eerie, unsettling portrayal of Hansen. The boxy, retro 4:3 aspect ratio is reminiscent of early 2000s tube TVs, complete with the oversaturated colors, bluish-green tones, and grainy filters. It’s interesting how Oppenheim captures the dawn of the modern internet age through abstract, stylized CGI sequences—think imaginative visual renderings of a 56k dial-up modem establishing a connection, complete with those iconic chirps and buzzing static sounds.

Pattinson’s take on Hansen treats him as a conceptual character drawn from his public image, and he cranks the intensity all the way up. From the start, it’s delightfully bizarre and over-the-top—we first hear his voice repeating some weird lines, then we see him rehearsing shirtless while gazing into a dressing room mirror. Later, there’s a memorable moment where Hansen gets soaked in the rain and suffers a panic attack so severe that he essentially freezes up, lies down on the ground, and refuses to move. His producer, Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), is completely exasperated as she makes desperate attempts to get him to snap out of it.

Since Oppenheim comes from a non-fiction background, the film occasionally has that documentary feel to it. He deliberately blurs the lines between what’s real and what’s scripted by meta-casting the then-president and CEO of NBCUniversal Television Group Jeff Zucker as himself. “I don’t really like your show, but America loves it! So I need to move you…” Zucker tells Hansen, but when he moved his show to the primetime slot, he essentially turned Hansen into a ratings-chasing monster.

The movie doesn’t delve much into Hansen’s domestic life, though there is a disturbing scene where he woke his toddler boys up in the middle of the night to watch a taping of his adult-oriented show. The film makes it look as if his marriage to his wife Mary (Anna Farris) is in shambles when he’s caught having an affair with a younger woman. In reality, their marriage lasted over 30 years, despite Hansen’s affair with a Florida news anchor in 2011.

But Hansen isn’t the only one with ethically dubious conduct. Bender was hedging her bets by maintaining connections with her ABC rival in case Hansen’s show tanked, and Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), the tech-savvy founder of the watchdog organization Perverted Justice, who poses as the prey, gets caught up in the obsessive rush of pursuing high-profile targets. At the end of the day, none of these people are motivated by doing good for the community—they’re all simply exploiting the operation to advance their own personal interests.

The narrative tells a parallel story of desperation—Hansen’s team racing to boost their TV viewership alongside a struggling musical theater actor, Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo), who’s desperately seeking his SAG card and professional representation. Gisondo is quite the scene-stealer as Decoy Dan, serving as both the emotional core and the story’s conscience. It’s a reminder that Hollywood is filled with ambitious young actors like Dan Plumb, where unchecked ambition can easily corrupt even the most well-meaning person.

Oppenheim masterfully captures the frantic energy and the really ugly side of vigilante television. A palpable sense of dread emerges when Hansen calmly approaches one of the offenders (Tony Revolori). Hansen’s show is undeniably addictive, satisfying American viewers’ insatiable appetite for spectacle and sensationalism. Its voyeuristic appeal lies in witnessing the precise moment the perpetrator realizes his life is pretty much over the moment the camera crew shows up and closes in around him.

Though the atmosphere can be somber and disturbing, Oppenheim brings in some wickedly funny moments, mostly from Pattinson’s manic performance as a guy who drinks his own Kool-Aid and is intoxicated by his own celebrity. Meanwhile, Gisondo’s sincere and naive approach is as amusing as it is cringe-worthy. He diligently rehearses the undercover operation with the same intensity as if he’s about to perform in a major Broadway production.

The climax featuring Bill Conradt (Alex Winter) really packs a punch. I hadn’t known the specifics of what went down during that Texas sting operation, but I had a hunch when Hansen’s team and the cops arrived at Conradt’s home that it would end in a bloody mess. Though predictable, it was still quite shocking to see it depicted in the film.

Ultimately, the very thing that made Hansen’s hidden-camera stings such a ratings hit ended up becoming a serious legal liability. Its controversial tactics led to the show’s downfall as advertisers bailed out, unwilling to have their brands connected to suicide and child exploitation. But Hansen is still at it; he’s hosting another similar show, ‘Takedown with Chris Hansen,’ on TruBlu, an independent subscription-based true-crime streaming platform he co-founded back in 2020.

Reportedly, he is considering legal action against A24, though he’s also been strategic about using the film as a promotional tool for his show. He’s invested close to $100k in an advertising campaign that will run for four weeks before screenings of this movie.

Primetime is not exactly a feel-good movie, despite the funny and amusing bits sprinkled throughout. But it’s worth a watch as a biting media satire that skillfully weaves together horror and psychological thriller elements. It reminds me a bit of Dan Gilroy’s delightfully twisted Nightcrawler; it’s provocative cinema engineered gets under your skin.

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