In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.
Lance Oppenheim has a busy couple of months coming up with the impending release of ‘You Can See Everything’, so there’s a chance that ‘Primetime’ might go a little under the radar. That would be a shame, as it’s a cracking film and particularly impressive given that it’s his first fictional feature. Robert Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen, the NBC presenter best known for hosting ‘To Catch a Predator’ from 2004 to 2007. For those unfamiliar with the show, the title is fairly self-explanatory, with Hansen and his production team conducting sting operations in which men were lured into conversations with people they believed to be minors, before being encouraged to turn up at a house where they would be confronted on camera. The show attracted considerable controversy at the time, and its methods remain ethically questionable today.
Set against the rise of reality television and the increasingly desperate pursuit of ratings, ‘Primetime’ has more than a little in common with ‘Nightcrawler’, particularly in its portrayal of the grubby and morally questionable things people are prepared to do in the name of producing compelling television. Hansen is presented as a cold, calculating figure who wants complete control over his operation, with little apparent concern for those caught up in it beyond their usefulness to the programme. Pattinson is terrific in the role, and he’s particularly good at playing these emotionally detached characters. There’s a deliberately flashy quality to the filmmaking too, evoking the presentation of reality television from the period while emphasising the sleazy nature of the whole enterprise.
The heart of the film, however, is Dan (Skyler Gisondo), one of the decoys who finds himself thrust into the uncomfortable position of impersonating a young boy, first over the phone and then in person when the men arrive at the house. Gisondo is excellent, conveying the growing unease about what he’s being asked to do, while his encounters with a man played by Alex Winter are particularly effective in bringing the ethical questions surrounding the programme into focus. The film doesn’t seek to excuse the behaviour of the men being targeted, but instead questions the methods used to expose them and the ethics of turning their humiliation into entertainment. It’s public shaming for the digital age, with the pursuit of justice becoming increasingly difficult to separate from the pursuit of television ratings.
I really liked ‘Primetime’, which is a sharp, entertaining and uncomfortable examination of a particularly grubby period in the development of reality television. Oppenheim’s distinctive visual style works brilliantly with the material, while the performances are excellent across the board, with Merritt Wever also particularly good alongside Pattinson and Gisondo. The film raises some difficult questions about where the line should be drawn between exposing wrongdoing and exploiting it for entertainment, without feeling the need to provide easy answers. It’s an excellent fictional debut from Oppenheim, combining a fascinating subject with some terrific performances and direction perfectly suited to the material.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Lance Oppenheim
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher and Phoebe Bridgers
