In Theaters and Digital

There is something uniquely unsettling about remembering that To Catch a Predator was once appointment television. Millions of us willingly gathered around our televisions to watch alleged predators walk into suburban kitchens, discover Chris Hansen waiting with a stack of printed chat logs, and hear some variation of those immortal words: “Why don’t you have a seat right over there?” It was journalism, public service, reality television, and Roman Colosseum spectacle all rolled into one deeply uncomfortable package.

And Primetime wants us to feel every filthy bit of that discomfort.

Making his narrative feature debut after three documentaries, filmmaker Lance Oppenheim transforms the story behind Hansen’s television phenomenon into a candy-colored nightmare of a thriller inspired by true events. Working from Ajon Singh’s screenplay, itself inspired by Luke Dittrich’s Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die,” Oppenheim doesn’t simply recreate the show. He crawls inside the machinery that manufactured it.

I am dirty now. I need a shower.

But I loved this movie.

Set in 2006, when Lost ruled television, Facebook was still relatively new, and the iPhone hadn’t yet permanently attached the internet to our hands, Primetime captures a fascinating media crossroads. Robert Pattinson plays Hansen as an old-school newsman suddenly discovering that sober journalism doesn’t generate nearly as much heat as humiliation. His predator stings become increasingly theatrical productions involving decoys, hidden cameras, carefully staged houses, and Hansen himself making his entrance like Clint Eastwood walking through saloon doors.

Except Clint carried a gun. Hansen carries transcripts. Equally effective.

Pattinson is fantastic, delivering a deliberately oversized, occasionally cartoonish performance that somehow becomes more disturbing the longer we watch. Oppenheim frequently captures him in enormous close-ups, his camera lingering on every twitch, stare, bead of sweat, and even tears sliding down Hansen’s cheek. Pattinson understands that this version of Hansen isn’t merely reporting television anymore. He’s performing Chris Hansen.

That distinction becomes the movie’s poisonous allure.

Oppenheim gives Primetime an exaggerated arthouse aesthetic that initially feels strangely incompatible with its sleazy subject matter. But that’s precisely the point. Reality and performance constantly bleed together until we’re no longer certain where journalism ends and show business begins. There are shades of Network here, with Paddy Chayefsky’s prophetic warnings about television transforming everything—including outrage—into entertainment. I also caught flashes of Nightcrawler, another movie fascinated by the uncomfortable truth that cameras don’t merely document ugliness; sometimes they encourage it.

Merritt Wever (Marriage Story) is terrific as the ambitious showrunner who understands exactly what the television audience wants and knows how to deliver it, while Skyler Gisondo ("The Righteous Gemstones") is equally impressive as an aspiring actor hired to play a minor and lure targets into the sting house. His character becomes especially important because he embodies the film’s central contradiction: everyone insists this is reality while practically everyone involved is acting.

Primetime has plenty to say about the salacious, corrosive nature of television that disguises spectacle as public service, but Oppenheim wisely doesn’t let us sit comfortably outside the blast radius. We’re implicated, too. We watched. We talked about it. We waited for Hansen to emerge from behind the curtain and deliver the catchphrase.

That’s what makes Primetime so disturbing.

We know we probably shouldn’t be watching.

But damned if we can look away.

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 110 mins
Director: Lance Oppenheim
Writer: Ajon Singh
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Skyler Gisondo; Merit Wever
Genre: Thriller | True Crime
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "Let's catch us a predator."
Distributor: A24
Official Site:
Release Date: September 25, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.