By Dan Skip Allen 

Last year there was a documentary called “Predators”. It documented the rise and fall of the popular NBC New magazine “To Catch a Predator. Chris Hansen himself was involved in this documentary.  The same can’t be said about “Primetime” the latest film that deals with the host Chris Hansen and his show “To Catch a Predator “. It’s not very flattering towards the television personality. It also focuses on one of the behind the scenes people who ran the show and actors who portrayed a teenage boy on the show. This movie, directed by Lance Oppenheim, first premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, and it got rave reviews from critics for Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo. Now it’s coming out wide on Sept 25th.

Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) is in the middle of an episode of his hit television news magazine “To Catch a Predator “. A man comes to a house in a car and then knocks on the door. A girl posing as a teenager opens the door, and she invites him in. She pretends to spill something on her shirt and leaves, but before that, she offers him a seat at an island counter in the kitchen. She says there is tea and cookies if he wants them, and she’d be right back. Instead of the girl coming back, Chris Hansen comes down a spiral staircase and states his name and who he’s with. The man grovels and cries as Hansen asks, “Do you know who I am, and why are you here?” He says the man can leave if he wants, and when he does, he’s greeted violently by police who arrest him on the spot. This is how each episode of this hit show starts thereabouts. No man wants to see themselves in this situation. That’s why this show was so popular in the early 2000s. It was like a trainwreck waiting to happen.

Robert Pattinson has come a long way since his days in the “Twilight Franchise”. He worked with directors like the Safdie Brothers on “Good Time” David Cronenberg on multiple films, and earlier this year he was in his second Christopher Nolan movie “The Odyssey” after “Tenent” a few years earlier. He’s even going to be in the 3rd “Dune” film in Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy based on Frank Herbert’s novels. He’s literally done it all in his short career. Now he’s working with a new director Oppenheim and giving an incredible performance as this man is trying to do good but has his own demons he has to tackle, namely adultery. Pattinson does a few odd things with his voice and mannerisms to capture the distinct vocal tone and ticks of Hansen. I couldn’t see anyone else playing this man the way that Pattinson has. He makes him out to be a vulnerable person, and he craves the limelight of the cameras. And the success that brings him personally. Pattinson owns this role. At times, he’s funny, and other times, he’s emotional to the point of possible hysterics. 

Another side to this film is that of the character Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo). He’s a struggling actor looking for his next role after a successful commercial he did earlier in his career. He does a lot of voice work to get a specific role, but he doesn’t know it’s the role of a decoy on “To Catch a Predator”. He is thrust into this role after being late to the first meeting with the producers. When a man has a can of whipcream and whips out his penis it’s a bit jarring for this young man. He gets coached up by the producers and specifically Pattinson’s Hansen on what to do. He eventually starts to get used to the role of “Decoy Dan” as Pattinson ‘s Hansen calls him. Gisondo does a fantastic job in the role. I’ve seen him a few times here or there in various other things, most notably James Gunn’s “Superman” as Jimmy Olsen. He’s Eve parlayed that role into a new DC Studios HBO Max show focusing on that character’s adventures as a photojournalist for the Daily Bugle. Gisondo is a bit over his head as this character, though. The pressures of putting men in prison for this based on him & others luring them to their unsuspecting doom is a bit much for him. He plays this real man perfectly with all of his nervous ticks and so forth. Gisondo is a young actor to watch out for. This may be his breakout role that could get him an Oscar nomination. 

Besides these two amazing performances, there are a few supporting characters in the movie that deserve talking about. Those are Merritt Wever as Andie Bender, the producer of “To Catch a Predator”. She works hand in hand with Pattinson ‘s Hansen to make the show work so well. She’s under a lot of stress, though, and the pressure for ratings and so forth gets to her. She’s even offered another job on a competing network for a similar news magazine show with John Cinounez. Half of her job is to range in Pattinson ‘s Hansen, and it’s like a three ring circus. Another character in the film is Xavier Von Erick (Matthew Maher). He is the man on the laptop contacting these dirty men who want to get with the little girls or boys per se. He’s a creepy character, but that’s how you have to be to be able to do this particular job. I loved him in “Air” as the sneaker designer. Also, Phoebe Bridgers plays the other decoy on “To Catch a Predator “. She can play a boy or girl but has standards she won’t cross on the show. Which makes her difficult to work with at times. The cast in the film is fantastic. Even the Predators are doing pretty good work here. Oppenheim has assembled a terrific cast for this movie. 

This film deals with two things that are either morally or ethically wrong: those are what these people are doing right and should this man, Hansen, be the guy able to do this because he has a history of working children’s stories. He isn’t a good man, as portrayed in this film. Does his questionable ethics in his personal life give him the right to hold judgments over others? It’s a tough question to ask, and I don’t know if the film gives a good answer to that. The other thing is the legality of what he’s doing. Is it entrapment? Do these men have rights that aren’t being shown in the film? That’s where the movie itself has an ambiguity. It doesn’t want to give all of the answers even though it asks all of these questions of the viewers. Oppenheim does a great job of getting a lot of closeups of the actors, and that shows the pain and suffering they face at every turn during this film. It’s hard to come away with a clear-cut answer on who was right in this situation and who was wrong. You can’t totally ignore what the men were trying to do . Are they being treated the wrong way? 

“Prometime” is a film that tackles difficult subject matter. The answers to the questions aren’t forthcoming by the writer/director. He does a great job of surrounding the film with incredible performances from everyone across the board. Especially Pattinson and Gisondo, who both deserve awards consideration for their performances. The 2000s aesthetic of the show and film give it a grainy feel, which leans into the idea of wrong or right. Oppenheim gives viewers a hard movie to watch from all angles. We are not comfortable watching this film even when we are laughing at something that is awkward or creepy. This is going to be a movie that people will be dissecting for years to come. I hope A24 and Oppenheim can get an award run out of it, but I don’t know if it’ll translate to the American or worldwide audience like “To Catch a Predator” did. It’s a cringeworthy film in a good way. I guess that’s what they were looking for with this subject matter. 

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 stars