Movie Review: PRIMETIME

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: September 26th, 2026 / 12:22 AM

Rating: R
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, Phoebe Bridgers, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Winter, Tony Revolori
Writer: Ajon Singh, based on the article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die” by Luke Dittrich
Director: Lance Oppenheim
Distributor: A24
Release Date: September 25, 2026

TO CATCH A PREDATOR was a real TV series, spun off from the news program DATELINE NBC. TO CATCH A PREDATOR ran on NBC 2004-2007 in (as the title tells us) primetime, opposite ABC’s LOST.

Robert Pattinson stars as TO CATCH A PREDATOR’s host Chris Hansen. The real Hansen, a ten-time Emmy winner, is reportedly furious about PRIMETIME and it’s easy to understand why. He is depicted here as someone who may genuinely perceive his professional mission as noble, but whose desire for fame and mainstream television success overwhelms every other aspect of his personality.

TO CATCH A PREDATOR showed how men (there were never any women involved at the “predator” end) who want to have sex with underage teens (and even children) are entrapped using emails and meetings at the home of the supposed teen’s relatives when no one is home.

“Decoys” – adults posing as teens – meet the subjects briefly, leave the room, and then Hansen and his camera team close in. Hansen reads from transcripts of the computer chats while the men squirm or cry in shame and apprehension, while police outside wait to arrest the would-be statutory rapists.

The main characters here are Hansen and two fictionalized individuals who represent actual people. Hansen’s main producer on TO CATCH A PREDATOR is Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), whose only moral compass is in getting her job done. She doesn’t need the spotlight, but Hansen’s lack of appreciation for what she does – and more, ignoring her judgment – increasingly bothers her.

The other primary figure is Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo in a star-making turn), a sweet-natured young aspiring actor who has no idea what he’s auditioning for when he comes in to read for PREDATOR. Despite everyone, including fellow decoy Del (Phoebe Bridgers), telling Dan that this isn’t an acting gig, Dan persists in treating it as if it is, getting into character and preparing.

Dan’s dedication to the job makes him valuable as a decoy. He craves Hansen’s attention and approval and is as vulnerable as they come. At the same time, the spark of friendly connection that sometimes occurs when the targets show up weighs on Dan’s conscience. These guys are trying to commit bad acts, but they’re still human beings. Should they be treated like this?

Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher) is, at least in PRIMETIME, the team member who writes up the decoy side of the chats and leads the charge in getting prospective offenders to show up. He clearly believes he’s on the side of the angels, but PRIMETIME doesn’t go too far into how he’s affected by the online dialogue he creates.

An exploration of Van Erck could give us something new. Perhaps the filmmakers didn’t see this as worthy of attention because Van Erck, a real person, was never a household name; perhaps such exploration could create unwanted legal problems. Either way, it seems like a missed opportunity.

There is a point in PRIMETIME when we start to think that maybe TO CATCH A PREDATOR should have changed its title to ARE YOU AN IDIOT? At least as the film portrays it, the show is a nationwide hit, a Nielsen ratings powerhouse, available to all on a weekly basis. Yet somehow, week after week, predators keep using emails and setting up meetings in exactly the way the well-publicized series depicts.

When TO CATCH A PREDATOR debuted, we can understand how its subjects might not be aware of the peril, but a year in, it seems like somebody involved in the program might at least wonder aloud about this. But PRIMETIME doesn’t seem interested in this question.

Otherwise, PRIMETIME feels like it’s running on two tracks. Directed by Lance Oppenheim from a screenplay by Ajon Singh, based on the article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die” by Luke Dittrich, gives us the often surprising, sometimes even shocking parts of TO CATCH A PREDATOR that are consistently intriguing.

But then there is the character study aspect. Dan of course does change as he weighs his goals and emotional needs against the consequences of what he agrees to do.

While Pattinson’s performance as Hansen is excellent and Wever’s as Andie even better, we can’t tell what having the show on primetime does for or to them. From what we see here, they are exactly the same do-whatever-it-takes careerists at the start as they are at the end, momentarily shockable but not fundamentally shakable. We can’t help feeling they’d be the same if their show was on local cable, just using hunger for success as justification for their extreme actions instead of using success itself as justification.

PRIMETIME is credible, it just doesn’t wind up telling us anything we don’t already know.

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