“Primetime,” about Chris Hansen and the television show “To Catch a Predator,” touches on the topics of pedophilia, criminal entrapment, media ethics, law enforcement collusion with entertainment, ambition, self-harm and integrity. With so much going on, it must have been irresistible to the filmmakers. But “a lot” can also be “too much.” This is the first fictional film of director Lance Oppenheim, who is known primarily as a documentarian. The abundance overwhelms him. “Primetime” is often sardonically comic, satirizing television’s “anything for ratings” business practices, but it’s impossible to maintain snark when some of your subjects are the sexual exploitation of underage kids and perpetrators who are ruining their own lives as well. The movie is not a bore, but the tonal strain is evident.
Hansen was a respected, award-winning journalist at NBC News in the aughts. In 2004, following an assignment in Southeast Asia and an investigation there about sex trafficking, he explored sexual abuse in the United States by teaming with an organization called Perverted-Justice. That group used online conversations to identify potential pedophiles and entice them into assignations with underage partners, impersonated by decoys. Hansen inserted himself into the process, intervening with the predators and using a crew to film the interactions and arrests.
The encounters were televised as stories on the news magazine “Dateline.” The segments became so successful that they were expanded into a stand-alone program, “To Catch a Predator,” which ran for three years and inspired spinoffs and imitators. The show was canceled after a major misstep. That event is part of public record, but since it is dramatized in “Primetime,” I won’t go into detail about it here, in case anyone isn’t familiar with the particulars.
“Primetime” begins at the moment “To Catch a Predator” is about to become a series. We see several “catches,” as well as Hansen’s behind-the-scenes ambition and avidity. When competition in the program’s time slot adds pressure for more dramatic material, his professional judgment becomes clouded. He also contends with the possible exposure of an extramarital affair, which actually took place at a different time, but is conflated here with the work turmoil for effect.
In preparation for “Primetime,” I watched a documentary from last year called “Predators” that covers the same material. In just about every way, “Predators” is superior to “Primetime”: more complete story, more context, more attuned to nuance and more aware of the TV show’s ambiguities and impact. Plus, it’s shorter.
Online discourse about child predation after the release of the documentary was clear: These bastards deserve what they get. But a deeper dive into the show causes uneasiness with that certainty. The methodology used by Hansen and his crew is often entrapment, with decoys steering the online conversations to sexual explicitness and pleas for a meeting. The men who showed up for assignations were criminals, no doubt, and the program’s rationale was that it got these men out of circulation before they did real harm. As “Primetime” and “Predators” demonstrate, though, Hansen and his crews could be reckless, and it’s worth noting that police were often coached to help provide more effective footage, introducing questions about law enforcement collusion for a few minutes of TV fame.
One predator who appears in a “Primetime” segment uses metal crutches to drag his body around. When asked how often he hooks up, he responds he doesn’t get out much. We’re not invited to laugh at him, and he’s pitiable in some ways. Yet evil is evil. I couldn’t figure out what the movie expected us to feel, especially when you consider that on the other side of the predator’s online conversations there was probably an adult pretending to be a kid but using very grown-up coercion to hook, titillate and seduce because an episode of television was needed.
In his third movie this year, after “The Drama” and “The Odyssey,” Robert Pattinson plays Hansen. Pattinson is an eminently watchable and resourceful actor, and he gives his characterization an amusing oiliness, but he’s hampered by the movie’s uncertain grasp on the material, especially when “Primetime” takes more dramatic turns. The “real” Hansen can come across as self-important and a bit unctuous, but he’s not a fool, as he often seems in the movie. (He answers a phone call from his wife by announcing his full name, as if introducing a news story.) Pattison also has a boyish quality that doesn’t work to his advantage. His suits always appear to be a size too big.
“Primetime” devotes time to two other characters: Andie Bender, a producer on the show who ponders leaving for a competitor, and a young actor named Dan Plumb who is hired to play one of the decoys. The Bender material feels like padding; otherwise, it’s a treat, because Merritt Weaver is fine in the role. Skyler Gisondo plays Plumb, who has a stronger dramatic purpose as he enters the show’s orbit and learns its methods. By playing innocence, Gisondo fares better with the movie’s tonal shifts. He can be comic while also having an increased awareness of his job’s more problematic aspects. Gisondo successfully negotiates a very tricky acting challenge: He’s a 30-year-old actor playing a naïve 23-year-old actor playing a 15-year-old decoy.
“Primetime” stops at the precise moment Hansen’s destiny changes; his fate is undramatized. He eventually left NBC when his contract wasn’t renewed. Some early efforts at cashing in on his “Predator” fame failed, and he was arrested at one point for bouncing a bad check. Hansen has rebounded to a degree, and he now owns and works for the TruBlu production house that provides streaming predator-related content. Part of his legacy is YouTubers who follow his entrapment formula, although their practices, such as pretending they work for law enforcement, can be even more questionable than Hansen’s. Ultimately, being arrested on “To Catch a Predator” may have rightfully altered many men’s lives, but the show may be the worst thing that ever happened to Hansen, too.
“Primetime” Directed by Lance Oppenheim. Written by Ajon Singh and Luke Dittrich. Starring Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, and Phoebe Bridgers. Rated: R. Running Time:1 hour, 50 minutes.
