The year was 2006. Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Google bought YouTube. And To Catch a Predator on NBC was airing opposite Lost on ABC in a battle of TV show popularity that hasn’t been seen on broadcast since. The latter is a fact I learned while watching Primetime, Lance Oppenheim’s new film starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the host of Predator who’s determined to bring his show to new heights of popularity. Primetime is a truly wild watch from start to finish, with nary a dull moment. The film explores Chris Hansen’s rise and downfall as we track his supposed quest for justice that slowly unravels to reveal a more egomaniacal hunger for fame that only continues to grow–but ultimately costs him in the process.
Pattinson has truly been everywhere this year–this is the third movie I’ve watched in theaters with him, the other two being the lackluster Drama and the incredible Odyssey. Primetime is first and foremost Pattinson’s time to shine and his boldest performance of all the films he’s put out this year. Taking inspiration from Edward from Twilight (no joke), Pattinson’s version of Chris Hansen is an egotistical perfectionist who puts himself in the spotlight when he should be highlighting more sensitive issues. To Catch a Predator was a highly controversial show its entire history–a hidden camera show that caught men looking to have sex with underage minors as its premise is already a lot to process, and as a result brought up questions surrounding morals, ethics, whether it violated entrapment laws, and perhaps most jarringly, led to the suicide of an assistant district attorney in Texas, Bill Condradt, on camera.
While all of the aforementioned issues are important, Primetime mostly tables these discussions and looks at Predator from a surface level point-of-view–which so happens to be Hansen’s. Maybe that’s the point given he is the subject of the film. And while these deeper issues surrounding Predator should be explored, Pattinson’s portrayal of Hansen is absolutely fascinating and impossible to look away from. His mannerisms are deranged–the way he screams and shakes his fists while celebrating Predator competing with Lost in its time slot to the way he spits out toothpaste as if he were Superman about to take flight. And there’s even more to dissect when we find out he’s having an affair–but as mentioned before, Primetime only goes skin-deep and this plot doesn’t seem to be more than to serve as an exclamation point to Hansen’s chaotic personality.
Yet once again, Primetime’s unwillingness to explore deeper issues is made up for by its cast. And if there are problems with Hansen’s lack of empathy, this is reconciled by the rest of its supporting characters, perhaps most in Skyler Gisondo. As Dan Plum, an actor looking to gain a role for an SAG card, Gisondo imbues his character with a layer of vulnerability missing in Hansen. The way Hansen and Plum both get into their respective characters is telling–Hansen repeating his catchphrases back to himself in the mirror and Plum doing research of other people to inform his role as the undercover fake teenager for Predator’s sting operations. Gisondo has been in the business for a long time, from young Shawn on Psych to Gideon on The Righteous Gemstones, so it’s wonderful to see him in one of his biggest and best roles yet. Tying it together is Merritt Wever as Predator’s morally compromised producer Andie Bender, who is never seen without nervously chewing gum as she, much like Hansen, believes she is the only one who can do her job and do it the right way. Additionally, there’s Phoebe Bridgers in her film debut as another decoy on Predator–and as an acclaimed musician, she also does a great song for the end credits.
The entire film is shot in jarring close-ups and a queasy color palette consisting of yellows, greens, blues and reds–all filtered through the same digital camera-esque quality seemingly inspired by the 2006 movie Miami Vice. Y2K is certainly in as an aesthetic, and Primetime perhaps shines most in making you feel so viscerally the surreal and unnerving experience of Predator’s tenure on television.
There are certainly more highlights throughout the movie. I would’ve loved to see Anna Faris in more than one scene as Hansen’s wife, and when I realized Bill Conradt was played by Alex Winter, a.k.a. Bill from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, my heart honestly sank because what do you mean this man dies at the end and thus so does a piece of 1980s nostalgia?! The film ends swiftly after Conradt’s death, leaving lots of loose ends. But certainly that shocking event haunts Hansen, as the tears rolling down his face lead us to believe. It is clear that the Hansen in the film has unresolved trauma–it’s too bad the movie is rather shallow in its depiction. Yet Pattinson is just so good playing absolute slimeballs that it’s fascinating to watch from start to finish. Despite Primetime leaving many storylines surface-level and unresolved, its cast makes up for the screenplay’s shortcomings with outstanding performances. This is certainly a movie to watch for Oscars season–maybe we’ll see Pattinson accepting an award in the 7 PM Primetime Television slot. After all, it’s what his version of Hansen would’ve wanted.
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