The Facts and Fiction of "Primetime"

To the annoyance of some and the delight of me, Robert Pattinson is everywhere this year. From “The Drama” to “The Odyssey” and now to  “Primetime,” he seems to be making bigger and bolder acting choices in each successive film. We still have “Dune 3” coming in December, but I’m not sure he can do more acting in a film than he has in his portrayal of Chris Hansen in “Primetime.”

The film is a factionalized depiction of the making of the reality TV show “To Catch a Predator,” which ran on NBC from 2004 to 2007. The show, shot partly with hidden cameras, depicted real-life sting operations set up to lure online predators to a house where they thought they were going to engage in sexual activities with a minor, who are played by adult actors. The men arrive, the actors find an excuse to leave, Chris Hansen appears to confront them, and after a brief interview they are immediately arrested.

On the surface the appeal of the show is clear. We watch justice being served. The bad guys are caught, the good guys win. What this film explores is the lurid thrill both the producers of the show and its viewers experience in watching and making it. When the predators are confronted you see on camera the exact worst moment of someone’s life, as heinous as that life may be. The light drains from their eyes, they realize they have no future, and in at least one case, take dramatic action.

The film is no standard biopic, playing more like a thriller and even a horror movie, echoing classics like “Network” and more modern films like “Nightcrawler.” The cinematography, shot on more than a dozen different cameras, gives the movie a washed out look, as if it’s surveillance footage. While mostly entertaining, the movie has some pacing issues. In a recent interview director Lance Oppenheim shared that the first cut of the film was three hours and the second cut was 80 minutes. It landed at an hour and fifty minutes, but I’d love to see the shorter version.

The real-life Chris Hansen has been vocally opposed to the film, and it’s hard to blame him. Pattinson is as over-the-top in this role as you can get, and many liberties are taken with the truth. It’s an elevated, audacious version of what really happened, which in a way is just like the show itself.

Rating 7/10