PRIMETIME (2026)

In Primetime, Robert Pattinson plays real-life American journalist Chris Hansen, who found fame in the early-2000s on NBC’s Dateline before his segment, To Catch a Predator, landed its own spin-off. In this early iteration of reality TV, staff would pose as minors online and arrange meetings with grown men. Adult actors who looked younger would lure the target into a camera-rigged house, where they’d prove their creepiness before Hansen strolled in. It was a cultural phenomenon, parodied by the likes of Family Guy. Then in 2006, something happened that would forever taint its legacy.

Chris Hansen is presented as an ambitious psychopath, with Pattinson’s performance heightening his worst traits. He and his right-hand woman, cynical producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), are out to find a bigger, more shocking sting to air on TV. There’s no care here for victims, the law, or those having to lure predators into stings. If you think reality TV lacks safeguarding now, it was even worse 20 years ago.

Working alongside Hansen is Xavier (Matthew Maher), who spends his days trying to lure sex offenders into meeting up with underage kids, and fake teenage actor Del (a debuting Phoebe Bridgers). Joining the troupe is Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo), a naïve actor who believes this is his big break — only to find a man accosting him in a kitchen wearing nothing but whipped cream over his genitals.

The film also marginally dives into Hansen’s private life. He has an unhappy wife (Anna Faris) and two young boys whom he rarely sees because of work. His only interaction with his kids throughout the movie occurs when he arrives home late from work and gets the little ones out of bed to watch his very un-child-friendly show. The thread suggesting he’s about to get involved in his own scandal hangs over him, but it’s never fully explored.

The film recreates some of the show’s most infamous stings in an uncomfortably gleeful manner. Fans of the show will see how Primetime chops and changes stings, combining multiple moments to create predator “gotchas”. It’s all played too light-heartedly, asking audiences to laugh at things they shouldn’t. Yes, these are all grown-ups talking, and no actual abuse is shown; but these are still scenes of grown men who believe they’re having sexual encounters with children.

Hansen and his team start to feel the pressure when they’re given their own prime-time slot against Lost. Luckily, Xavier thinks he’s found a “big fish” who’ll make the network proud, so they set out to find this new offender, who could possibly have a government job. The team behind To Catch a Predator already operated in murky waters, but with the pressure to reel the audience in, they lose all morals. Child abuse is minimised to a plot device and a running joke, ensuring Primetime loses any moral high ground.

Primetime shares the same setup as To Catch a Predator: we meet a line-up of damaged men who corner a young actor in the name of entertainment. Hansen gleefully appears to berate the men as if at a public hanging. The camera flicks between the moment, the broadcast show, and the hidden cameras to create an eerie ’90s home-video aesthetic.

Pattinson is on form here, treating Hansen like an alien trying to acclimatise to humanity. The film introduces him as he rehearses basic lines, and he’s frequently shown practicing normal human interactions. The actor smartly understood years ago that his superpower is bringing sleazy, slimy, weird guys to life. And no one fits that description better than Chris Hansen.

Wever offers excellent support as the moral backbone of Primetime, though the material wastes her talents and her sub-plot adds nothing to the overall themes. Giving her character more to work with — even if it were acting as the story’s conscience — could have given the movie more texture.

Documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim’s fiction feature debut blends reality and fiction to deliver a rather hollow exploration of the early-2000s’ lack of safeguarding in reality TV. Primetime does exactly what To Catch a Predator did: it treats a deeply serious issue as light entertainment. This movie is great fun and full of meme-worthy moments, but it shouldn’t be. It should have a bite; it should be angry; it should be conflicted. It shouldn’t leave audiences wanting to dress up as Chris Hansen for Halloween.

David Osit’s 2025 documentary Predators follows the exact same subject matter as Primetime, only it actually makes a point. That doc expertly dissects that era of reality TV and how true crime became mass entertainment. It highlights how To Catch a Predator birthed a wave of hidden-camera viral moments, online vigilantism, and an appetite to watch people hit rock bottom — just with an added pop soundtrack.

The real story here is quite shocking: it’s the epitome of reality TV gone wrong and peak voyeurism. The documentary lands this horrific final act; the feature film does not. It misses out on some of the more exploitative moments and cuts out the entire resolution, ignoring the fallout from the final act. By eliminating the subsequent lawsuits, scrutiny, and ultimate cancellation, it almost justifies Hansen’s behaviour.

Oppenheim’s Primetime has so much potential to say something about pop culture and audience behaviour, yet it says almost nothing. It essentially celebrates Chris Hansen and his show. How can you criticise something that you so happily recreate without showing the repercussions?

USA | 2026 | 109 MINUTES | 1.50:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Lance Oppenheim.
writer: Ajon Singh (based on ‘Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die’ by Luke Dittrich.
starring: Robert Pattison, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, Anna Faris, Booken Woodbine, Alex Winter, Tony Revolori & Jonathan Lipnicki.