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In the days since I saw Primetime, which hit the 2026 movie schedule this weekend, I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve even re-evaluated how much I liked the latest release from A24. Walking out of the theater, I didn’t like it. The more I think about the Lance Oppenheim film starring Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, the more I appreciate it. I’ve even come to like the movie in retrospect. I’m still not at all comfortable with it, though, which I guess is really the whole point.
Be advised, there are some spoilers beyond this point.
There Are Are No Heroes Here
When CinemaBlend asked co-star Merritt Wever who the villain of Primetime is, she opted to use the word “monsters” to describe the people involved in the short-lived reality/news show portrayed. I can get behind that idea. There are not really any heroes, though Skyler Gisondo’s character, Dan Plum, is not one of the monsters. Everyone else is. There aren’t any truly tragic figures, either, though Plum comes close.
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Hansen, Wever’s character, producer Andie Bender, and Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher) all come across badly. Hansen takes the most heat, for sure, but the other two don’t fare much better. That’s before we even talk about the actual child predators portrayed, like Kaufman County, TX ADA Bill Conradt (Alex Winter). Though, does an argument have to be made that they are monsters? Conradt’s suicide ends the movie, but we don’t get closure on anything.
The Subject Of The Movie Isn’t Heroic, Either
I took some heat for an article I wrote a couple of months back, when the trailer for Primetime dropped, talking about how uncomfortable the whole subject makes me. I’ve also written in the past about how much the whole era of reality TV in the mid-’00s was exploitative and, honestly, gross. After seeing the movie, I still feel that way. It feels wrong to make money like the shows of that era, like Predator, on such disturbing and upsetting crimes.
Here we are a couple of decades later, and people are still turning out for projects like this. I don’t know what that says about all of us (and I’m just as guilty), but I can’t help but self-reflect on it. Even as I write this, coming to any conclusions is nearly impossible. I think the way the subject is presented by Oppenheim is fair, mostly, though Hansen disagrees. I still struggle with the whole idea of glamorizing it in any way. Glamorizing isn’t exactly the right word, I suppose, as clearly the movie is not making any of it look good. Maybe publicizing it? That doesn’t feel right, either.
Heck, I’m even struggling to decide whether I would recommend the movie or not. As I said, I really didn’t like it initially, but I really like movies that have you still thinking about them days later, and this one does that in a big way. In the end, I do recommend it, because there shouldn’t be any heroes in a story like this, and Pattinson is fantastic as Hansen. I’m still uncomfortable with the whole thing.
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