Primetime Review: Strong Performances can’t rescue thriller short on tension and depth

Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo deliver stellar performances in Primetime, a dramatization of the rapid rise and abrupt fall of NBC’s To Catch a Predator. Wever and Pattinson, in particular, do some of the best work of their careers, bringing complexity and intensity to their roles. Unfortunately, the film around them struggles to match that energy, failing to sustain tension or give its characters the depth needed for its dramatic turns to truly resonate.

Primetime Overview

Primetime follows Chris Hansen (Pattinson), producer Andie Bender (Wever) and decoy Dan Plum (Gisondo) during the rise of NBC’s To Catch a Predator. What begins as an ambitious television investigation quickly becomes a ratings phenomenon, blurring the line between journalism, entertainment and vigilantism.

That tension is where the film finds its richest material. Lance Oppenheim explores how exposing wrongdoing can become inseparable from exploiting it, especially when ratings and recognition enter the equation. Hansen’s growing ambition and Andie’s willingness to push ethical boundaries suggest a darker question about the television industry’s appetite for spectacle.

Unfortunately, Primetime doesn’t always explore those ideas with the depth they deserve. The film frequently emphasizes the performance surrounding the stings, but that approach also undermines some of its most important dramatic sequences. By showing Hansen preparing for confrontations and running his lines beforehand, Oppenheim removes much of the uncertainty from the eventual encounters. The audience knows what is coming, leaving little room for the tension those scenes should generate.

The characters themselves also feel underwritten compared with the performances bringing them to life. Pattinson gives Hansen an unsettling mixture of ambition, vanity and theatricality, while Wever finds considerable complexity beneath Andie’s controlled exterior. Gisondo brings an increasingly uneasy vulnerability to Dan as he becomes acclimated to the work.

Together, the three performances elevate Primetime considerably. They provide the emotional and dramatic weight that the screenplay sometimes struggles to supply, making the film more compelling than its uneven exploration of spectacle, ethics and ambition ultimately allows.

Characters not ready for Primetime

The people at the center of Primetime are fascinating on paper, but the film rarely gives them enough interiority to become fully realized characters. Their motivations are generally clear, yet their emotional lives remain frustratingly out of reach.

Chris Hansen is the clearest example. Pattinson portrays a man increasingly consumed by his own celebrity, but the screenplay offers limited insight into what drives that hunger. Is Hansen motivated by a genuine belief in his work, professional ambition, vanity or some combination of all three? The implication is the latter, but we rarely get much insight into the man himself to root for him or against him, leaving me emotionally inert.

Andie is arguably the film’s most intriguing character, largely because she is also its most calculating. As the executive producer, she isn’t wrestling with the show’s ethical compromises so much as deciding how far those compromises will go. Wever plays her as controlled, intelligent and conniving, suggesting someone who understands exactly how television works and knows how to manipulate that machinery to her advantage. The show the extent of her influence without fully exploring what makes Chris and Andie a great team.

Dan receives more emotional attention, as the film shows the work’s effect on him and his motivation to audition. His gradual exposure to increasingly disturbing situations suggests the psychological cost of turning exploitation into a job. Still, his transformation feels more observed than explored.

This is ultimately where the performances matter most. Pattinson, Wever and Gisondo recognize that their characters contain contradictions that the screenplay doesn’t always articulate. They supply those missing layers through physicality, tone and expression, creating people who feel more complicated than the writing necessarily makes them.

Predator Catcher

Chris Hansen is the film’s most compelling contradiction: a genuine believer in his work, and someone deeply invested in being the one doing it. Primetime doesn’t suggest that his concern about predators is entirely manufactured. Instead, it presents a narcissist who can convince himself that his ambition is inseparable from a greater good.

His relationship with his sons offers another telling glimpse into his vanity. When he shows them a To Catch a Predator segment, the scene isn’t framed as a father warning his children about predators. Chris seems most interested in showing them that their father is on television. His work has become so intertwined with his identity that even his children become an audience for his celebrity.

Pattinson captures that narcissism without suggesting Chris is consciously fraudulent. His Hansen genuinely believes the work matters, but he also craves the recognition that comes with it. The two impulses aren’t mutually exclusive; they feed each other. Every successful sting reinforces his belief that he is making a difference, while every television appearance reinforces his belief that he deserves to be there.

Primetime Final Thoughts

Primetime is a film with a fascinating story, compelling ideas and three outstanding performances, but it doesn’t always know how to turn those strengths into a consistently engaging drama. Oppenheim has plenty to say about the intersection of television, celebrity and exploitation, yet the film’s characters often feel more like vehicles for those ideas than fully realized characters.

That makes the performances all the more impressive. Pattinson gives Chris Hansen a magnetic mixture of conviction, vanity and narcissism, while Wever makes Andie Bender the film’s most intriguing and calculating presence. Gisondo brings an understated vulnerability that gives Dan’s increasingly uncomfortable journey genuine emotional weight.

Unfortunately, those performances can only compensate for so much. By revealing too much of the mechanics behind the predator stings and the show’s actual footage, the film repeatedly undermines its own suspense. Its limited character development also keeps its larger ideas from landing with the force they deserve.

Somewhere in Primetime, there is a genuinely provocative film, particularly in its examination of people who convince themselves that doing good justifies pursuing fame and success. The cast frequently makes that film visible. The frustrating part is how rarely the material around them reaches the same level.