Primetime: Movie Review

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers
Director: Lance Oppenheim

A24's Primetime purports to be the story of how Dateline presenter Chris Hansen's How To Catch a Predator show became so popular, but like the titular show's MO, that's somewhat of a bait and switch in itself.

Instead, what transpires is a look at the inner workings of those aligned with the heyday of Must-see TV through a variety of eyes.

Whether it's Pattinson's Hansen, who's chasing down the biggest ratings and taking on TV juggernaut Lost amid his own imposter issues, Wever's producer Andi, who's aware of the frailty of her own position or Gisondo's wannabe actor who snags a role as a pedophile bait, everyone has something to lose and gain in this electrifying exploration.

Shot through in a 90s grainy VHS look, it's no wonder horror meister Ari Aster's a producer on Oppenheim's peek behind the curtains. There's a distinctly disturbing veneer to this throughout, be it Pattinson's committed Hansen, or Gisondo's morphing into the actor he perceives he needs to be, Primetime peels back the layers of what makes the most horrifying and ambitious people tick.

But it's Merritt Wever who emerges as the film's MVP, in a drama that occasionally feels polished and shallow. As Andi, she's clearly the powerhouse behind the show but finds her own moral compass jerked by Hansen's desire to land a whale as the network pushes back against the perceived weakness of the show against the polar bears and Dharma Initiative of the opposition. Wever delivers a subtle and engaging turn, which anchors many of the film's key moments.

It may be some of Pattinson's finest work, but it's never fully clear what's bubbling below his approximation of Hansen other than a desire to catch the evils he once saw while on a trip to India and the lack of any direct conclusion to his tale may prove a frustration, but the opaque nature is something he leans well into.

Primetime works well as a drama about the primal urges of ambition and the mobsters it turns people into - it's a fascinatingly unsettling watch in parts, not because of the various former child or teen actors playing the parts of the predators, but more because of the horrors it reveals underneath our skins and the way we lose our innocence trying to become more than what we could ever hope to be.