Primetime is a descent into the mind of Chris Hansen, more a portrait of a man’s megalomania rather than the actual cultural effects of “To Catch A Predator”.
Primetime is a fascinating look into not only the rapid rise and fall of Chris Hansen, but also the structure of biographic filmmaking, and what it can be. Less a film about “To Catch A Predator” than it is about Hansen (though, the two are as interwoven as two things can be), Primetime gives us a glimpse into the mind of a man who viewed himself as something closer to a savior than a journalist, who viewed his acts of lurid gotcha journalism as acts of a sort of holy crusade.
This bending and mixing of the story of “To Catch A Predator” into something closer to a fable is a fascinating approach from filmmaker Lance Oppenheim. Rather than play the story straight forward, or make it about the broader impact of the show, Oppenheim stays laser focused on Hansen; from his strained relationship with his family, to his obsessive memorialization of chat logs, to his extramarital affairs, and, very pinpointedly, his intensive belief in his “mission”. We see the world from Hansen’s POV, a view that sees a world that is filled with monsters, both figurative and literal, that Hansen must vanquish.
This almost fantastical approach really works because of Robert Pattinson’s incredible version of Hansen. Even after having an already stellar year, Pattinson is putting in career best work here. Pattinson plays Hansen as both an almost mystical ringleader, a svengali who is able to hold and destroy the world in his hands, as well as a deeply flawed man who is barely keeping his small sliver of “normal life” together. It is a performance that is riveting, funny, frightening, and pathetic all at once.
That isn’t to say that Pattinson is the only great performance here. Both Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo performances bring the entire thing to another level, with Wever playing Andie Bender an embattled producer trying to keep control of a quickly spiraling primetime show, and Gisondo acting as the heart of the film, playing Dan Plumb*, a “decoy” of the show who quickly realizes the full reality of what he is doing. Along for the ride are countless other familiar faces, such as Tony Revolori, Phoebe Bridgers, Creed Bratton, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Winter, Anna Ferris, and Johnathan Lipnicki, whose surprise appearance only becomes more shocking when he pulls out a can of whip cream.
Primetime moves at an absolute clip, which carries both pros and cons. The narrative is intensely propulsive, moving us from house to house, Hansen chasing after the “Whale” like a frenzied shark. The film continues to build towards the inevitable moment like a pressure cooker, the world for Hansen both sharpening in focus and falling apart around him.
While this pace keeps the tension tight, it doesn’t really allow for any of the peripheral context to breathe. All these moments seem to happen on top of each other; “To Catch A Predator” is the new primetime sensation, and then immediately becomes a network liability; Hansen’s conquering of the mountain lasts only a blink before a tabloid story about his extramarital activities threatens to bring it all down; Andie is usurped on production control by the vigilante group in what feels like mere moments; the “Whale” is both discovered and then exposed in about 10 minutes of screentime. I know the “To Catch A Predator” phenomenon was overall a quick blip on the network (crazy that there is only 20 episodes, from how often these played in marathons), but the whole thing moves at such a dizzying speed that everything outside of Hansen’s central descent into obsession is forced to try and keep up.
Overall, though, Primetime is both a fascinating portrait of who Hansen was/is, and a rather bleak look back at what 2006 was like (There is a certain “cameo” that pops up on an advertisement that feels like a jumpscare). “To Catch A Predator”, while pretty jarring in hindsight, was very clearly who America was in those years. Primetime points a spotlight at the charismatic leader of that phenomenon, and how his own megalomania was both his rise and fall in the world of primetime TV.
*Putting money on it now; Pattinson screaming “Decoy Dan!” will be the big meme that comes out of Primetime.
