We’re introduced through a television lens that throws us into the sting portion of an episode of “To Catch a Predator.” Here, a child predator gets lured into a house by an actor, and once inside, he is approached by Chris Hansen of “Dateline NBC,” who reads a portion of his chat logs. It is revealed that he’s been captured on camera after allegedly attempting to arrange a sexual encounter with a minor. After this, Chris and his producer, Ande Bender, meet with NBCUniversal programming director Jeff Zucker, who, despite not understanding the show, has decided to reward Chris and his team with the primetime slot. A win, for sure, but can they maintain their success?
“Primetime,” directed by Lance Oppenheim, is a work that I doubt many of us expected to be good. I was worried this was some sort of cash grab after the recent Roblox child endangerment incidents (not to mention the release of the Epstein documents less than a year ago), so naturally, I was skeptical. But I can say with full certainty that this film did not leave me disappointed as other films this year have.
It’s a fabulously done film, but like many of A24’s films in recent years, this film has a grainy, early-2000s fuzz in its camera work. This, I can only assume, was done by using actual video cameras as opposed to digital ones that can achieve that sort of feel through filters. The film, in retrospect, is full of many symbols that represent elements present throughout Hansen’s life. Most notably, his producer, played by Merritt Wever, is meant to represent the show’s producers who prioritized the show’s ratings over the work that was actually being done by the Perverted Justice organization.
Robert Pattinson’s performance as Chris Hansen is stellar, adding so much more depth to the man whom most people have only known through their television screens. We follow this man who the world sees as faultless and good, trying to right the wrongs of his married life while trying to keep up with the newfound success of his show. All the while, his obsessiveness over catching these predators begins to alienate those around him who work with him, including Decoy Dan, played by Skyler Gisondo, whom Hansen regarded as being like a son to him but ultimately walked off the show after having a crisis of conscience.
Famously, the real Chris Hansen, portrayed by Chris Hansen, didn’t care for his portrayal in the picture, describing Robert Pattinson’s appearance in the early trailers as ‘vampiric.’ Later, having viewed the film, he felt that it was so detached from the reality of the events from the show and his life that he “was not sure what the point was.” In a way, he isn’t wrong, but also not entirely right.
It’s very often in our lives where we recall events in our past very differently from how those events really played out. And, naturally, our loved ones or our not-so-loved ones will criticize our recollection, as we do to them. Our personal recollections of ourselves will always be skewed, and often when we can’t consult the man of the hour for all of the accurate details of his life, well, as the saying goes:
“If you can’t get Sinatra, get everyone around Sinatra.”
A statement I think Gay Talese, author of “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” would agree with, and as such, many from Chris’s life were consulted during the making of this picture to get a gauge of the man himself 21 years ago. But just like a memory, things can become hazy no matter whom you ask. This is one of the reasons I think this movie benefited from its fever dream-ishness, much like how this style benefited a film like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” True events told through the eyes of those who were there are just as weird and just as exciting to witness now as they were then.
