Primetime tells the story of Chris Hansen, host of To Catch a Predator, where he and his team catch child predators in sting operations, and their show getting promoted to the primetime slot and how it affects the crew and their show.
The film has a lot of style with a perfect recreation of the show looking like mid-2000s reality TV, which it’s flat and monotone style works in great contrast with the rest of the film that uses a lot of vibrant but seedy looking cinematography; the two look like a great visual contrast.
Robert Pattison does a good job as Chris Hansen; it’s not the most historically accurate, I presume, but for this movie it works. His character feels like he’s very obsessed with image and how he’s presented, so he comes across as like overly professional and cheery, but you can sense his insecurities and his eccentricities bubbling under the surface. His character is almost like Jerry Maguire meets Patrick Bateman, lol.
Skyler Gisondo plays “Decoy Dan," an actor who is hired by the crew to pretend to be a 13-year-old in the sting operations, and I will admit it is a little bit of a stretch. I think this clearly nearly 30-year-old is supposed to be 13, but they sort of bring that up in the film. But Dan’s character serves as the heart of the film, and you can see the effects of what this kind of work can do to a person and how that stress is multiplied with Hansen‘s ambition, and Gisondo brings a likability and grounded feel so you don’t get lost in the movie's frantic energy.
Marriott Weaver plays Hansen’s assistant, who sort of has a “deal with the devil” type storyline, with people telling her not to stick with Hansen and her contemplating whether she should leave or not, and Weaver felt very natural and had some fun dark humor moments I really dug.
I will say the film does have maybe too many different storylines going on, between Decoy Dan trying to make it as an actor, the assistant’s story, and Hansen himself having to deal with a blackmail plot, not to forget the actual "catch a predator" stuff. It's just a lot of different storylines that don’t come together in the most cohesive way; they’re all well told, but I think the film would’ve been stronger if all these different plots didn’t feel so detached from one another. Plus some other storylines would have felt stronger if they had more time to develop.
Matthew Maher plays the computer expert for the team, and he brings a high energy and humor to the role that brings a nice levity to some of the more unsettling moments
Anna Farris is in the film in a small role; she’s good, but I’m surprised they got a bigger me like her for the role.
I was surprised when Alex Winter showed up; it's definitely a different role for him, and he was very good. Plus Bokeem Woodbine was very funny as this almost Yosemite Sam-type sheriff who helps Hanson and his team.
The soundtrack also was very good at setting the mood of the film
Primetime is an interesting look at characters whose mental states are unwinding while working on the show with a very bleak topic. It may not be the deepest or most original film, but it’s good at playing with uncomfortableness for both comedy and drama. Plus the performances and style do a lot of heavy lifting, plus the subject matter is interesting enough you want to see what happens next. I give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It's definitely one of the more unique bio films. I’ve seen as far as style
