PRIMETIME
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, and Phoebe Bridgers
Director: Lance Oppenheim
ADRIANO
As chilling as Primetime is, it’s one of the year's most vital satires. Beyond the hypnotic performance from Robert Pattinson and the static cinematography that ironically sensationalizes everything, director Lance Oppenheim takes the opulence of its era and explores the evil at the heart of doing good for entertainment. He speaks not just to To Catch a Predator, but to the soullessness of reality TV as a whole, with spine-tingling results that will haunt viewers with what it brilliantly showcases. You can treat the symptom, but you can’t cure the disease. That’s bad for ratings.
NICK
In a year filled with Robert Pattinson performances, Primetime is his pièce de résistance. Not only does he channel Chris Hansen, but he does so in a way that brings all of his questionable morality to the surface. Director Lance Oppenheim tells a sure handed story that uses a dynamic colour palette and ambitious camerawork to explore To Catch a Predator. It's a story of greed and desire on both sides of the camera that exposes the grey area Predator operated in. It’s a great example of the way good intentions can be corrupted by success, all told through a highly engaging film.
AMARÚ
The true star of Primetime is Lance Oppenheim’s direction. The 2000s TV grain and aspect ratio, the bright lighting and lens flairs, the pop-culture interstitials, the extreme close-ups, all of it makes for an extremely entertaining contextualization into the making of To Catch a Predator. Also, there’s Skyler Gisondo, in a career performance, whose wide-eyed zeal and ardent need for acting relevancy mirrors the film’s focus on the desperate, ambitious, and cutthroat nature of Hollywood success. Now I couldn’t exactly tell you what Primetime’s narrative is actually about, but I was thoroughly captivated while watching.
ROBERT
I have more familiarity with Derrick Comedy’s skit on To Catch a Predator than the actual aired program from the 2000s, but Primetime sold me on its vibes and Robert Pattinson, and it didn’t disappoint. There was this surreal haze and aura surrounding most scenes that convinced me the whole thing was Chris Hansen’s (Pattinson) fever dream, where he was like a reality TV Willy Wonka and the airwaves were his chocolate factory. It touched on some heavy concepts about what ambition means to individuals and how it can be perverted against others. I would gladly take a seat again for this film.
BODE
I can’t recall a time where my parents ever watched To Catch a Predator, but I was definitely aware of its cultural impact - one that seemingly many are still wrestling with. Primetime is the latest film to come out of that. I’m not sure it’s saying anything new about how good intentions can become corrupt over time, but director Lance Oppenheim sure knows how to make that exploration sleazily entertaining - thanks to its hyperkinetic 2000s-era style, and a trio of great performances from Robert Pattinson (alien as ever), Skyler Gisondo (heartbreaking), and Merritt Wever (remarkably grounded). You should definitely see how this looks.
PAIGE
Primetime is a stylized depiction of To Catch a Predator that challenges audiences to wonder whether it’s meant for entertainment or to serve actual justice. Director Lance Oppenheim does a great job balancing that theme, but the film sometimes struggles to blend its grounded story with its heightened elements. It works for the most part, but the two don’t always mesh as strongly as they could've. The standouts, though, are the performances. Robert Pattinson continues to prove he’s a shape-shifter in this industry, while Skyler Gisondo delivers a side of himself we haven’t seen before. Overall, Primetime may be style over substance, but it’s an intriguing undertaking of this concept.
