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If you decide to see Lance Oppenheim's "Primetime," it's important to remember the title as you watch. Yes, this is a biopic of sorts about Chris Hansen and his work on "To Catch a Predator," but it is more accurately about the quest for fame and using people's trauma to attract ratings. True crime entertainment continues to have a prominent place in many people's television habits, and this film asks us to examine what that means both for those whose stories have become our viewing pleasure and those of us watching.
"Primetime" starts as Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) is told that his show, "To Catch a Predator," is moving to a 9 p.m. spot opposite "LOST." Chris and his producer, Andie (Merritt Wever), see this as an opportunity to make the program even more sensational, looking for bigger, more horrific predators. As part of their plan, they hire a young actor, Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo), to play "Decoy Dan," the person who greets the would-be predators who were catfished by Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher).
Oppenheim, along with writers Ajon Singh and Luke Dittrich, is less concerned with an accurate retelling of the show as much as they are interested in interrogating the why of it all. That decision sometimes leaves "Primetime" feeling less like a biopic and more like a satirical look at the nature of programming like this. Visually, the movie is impressive. Oppenheim uses light and color effectively to cast Hansen as both villain and savior.
Pattinson plays Hansen in an almost comical manner, as we see him wake his two young sons to watch a clip of the show, just to brag that he was moving into a prime spot on television. Even Andie struggles to accept a "nice" job when there is so much more fame to be found producing salacious true-crime content. Weaver does an excellent job showing how the hunger for fame is not just in front of the camera, but in every aspect of the production.
The heart of the movie, and the standout performance, belongs to Gisondo as Dan Plum. He is someone who just wants to get enough hours to be admitted into the Screen Actors Guild, and stumbles into this job without really knowing what it is. Throughout the film, we watch him suffer one trauma after another, ending with him witnessing the suicide of a District Attorney who is about to become the next unwitting star of Hansen's show. If there is a sympathetic character in "Primetime," it is Decoy Dan, and Gisondo plays him brilliantly.
If you're a fan of programming like "To Catch a Predator," then "Primetime" will probably make you feel uncomfortable, and I think it's worth sitting with that feeling and examining why we turn on shows that display the worst of humanity while we judge from our couches. Yes, it is correct to want to see people who would hurt children brought to justice, but perhaps it shouldn't be something that we watch as entertainment.
Rating: 3.5/5
Alise Chaffins is a freelance and Tomatometer-approved film critic.