Before the storm came, Suesie and I went to go see the movie about Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator, Primetime. It was… it’s hard to explain what it was.

The movie is what I would call a full arthouse movie. It doesn’t come down to hard on either side on what kind of person Chris Hansen is, but presents his attributes and actions and leaves it up to you to make your own decision. What I took from it, is that we’re watching the unravelling of a man as his personal and professional falls apart. He tries desperately to save both but ends up destroying them.

When we first see Robert Pattinson’s Chris Hansen, he’s well dressed and articulate. We hear the classic lines of To Catch a Predator, “Why don’t you have a seat right there?” he’s in control. He’s capable.

We next see him with his producer, Andie and they’re told by the head of NBC that they’re going to be put up against Lost, the biggest show on television during primetime. The unraveling begins soon after that. You can learn more at the end when I get to the spoiler section at the end of this article.

I might do a spoiler review when it’s out of theaters. The performances are all top notch. Pattinson of course steals the show as Hansen himself. It’s not just that he nails the voice but he nails his charismatic personality as well. He draws you in but there feels to something dangerous underneath it all.

Merritt Wever plays his producer, Andie. Her continual put upon and sick of Hansen’s shit is so fun to watch. Her journey is interesting as well. As she tries to figure out whether she should stay or she should go.

Skyler Gisondo, brings vulnerability, earnestness, uncertainty and fear to Dan Plum. Dan is a young actor trying to get screen credits to gain admittance to the screen actor’s guild. Because of his youthful appearance, he’s able to portray one of the male decoys. They don’t tell him what the job is up to the point that he’s shocked during their first shoot he gets flashed by a predator who then puts whipped cream on his genitals. From there, he learns that most decoys quit after a few days. His determination and manipulation from Chris keeps him going throughout the movie. He excels in the role. But it costs him a great deal.

There are various other side characters including the other decoy played by Phoebe Bridgers who took time out of writing beautifully sad songs. Everyone in this movie is bringing their A game. Especially the directing. Lance Oppenheimer blends the blurriness of early oughts video with the crispness of the modern age. The movie blends shadow and light to make everything murky and threatening.

The movie is a little under two hours long. It doesn’t feel like that and moves along at a pretty good clip.

I would highly recommend it and I’m going to talk about it in more detail below. Spoilers ahead. Turn back now.

*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****

This movie doesn’t portray Hansen in the best light. As stated above when you see him for the first time, he’s wearing a suit and at the top of his game. The obsession with getting his show on top of the ratings will wipe all of that away. We see from the beginning how he hyper focuses on things. There’s a scene where he goes to get a rice krispies treat from a vending machine. It gets stuck and he calls the vending services about it. He’s high strung and desperate for approval. From the public, the network and his wife. Despite that last one, he’s having an extramarital affair that is going to come to light later in this movie.

There isn’t much that he won’t do to further his own interests. Andie knows how to manipulate and she manipulates him into manipulating Dan. Chris gives him a speech about how he’s helping to destroy an ancient evil. He calls him a superhero. It works because he needs Dan, but he wants Dan to think that he needs Chris.

That doesn’t work on the next stop of his manipulation tour with his affair partner. She has more power over him and thus it doesn’t work as well. She begins crying and because of that he’s caught. The National Enquirer will threaten him throughout the movie. Every time that happens, he starts to crack a little bit more. He flubs an interaction with a rabbi predator. He begins to make the series of decisions that will lead to his downfall.

There can be seen a lot that when he is surrounded in the world of the feminine, he’s more at home. Things work. He’s listening to his producer Andie, who in many ways acts as a matriarchal figure to him. He eats snacks like a little kid throughout the movie, at one moment trying to unravel a Fruit Rollup. It’s only when he starts listening to the masculine, that’s when things start falling apart.

Particularly Matthew Maher’s Xavier, the online lure for the predators. When he starts telling Chris in his desperation that he might have a whale, a senator or someone higher, Chris listens because it’s what he wants to hear. This leads them to Fort Worth, Texas and the ending of the film.

They set up their sting house, they think that they’ve been had and that the perp got away. He hasn’t, he shows up as planned but it’s not the one they’re looking for. Chris is left destroyed by this and is lying on the floor. Dan has to step up and takes over Chris’ role.

They finally get a lead on their whale and it’s the local district attorney. He’s too smart though and won’t go to the trap house. So they go to him.

The masculine takes over here with the local police showing off their very phallic guns and weaponry. Earlier, a man on a plane is talking to Chris about how he would just kill the predators. Chris is obviously disturbed by this and redirects saying that what he does is far worse. He gives speeches about pillories and other type devices for public shaming.

The descent on the district attorney’s house is like watching a hostage situation. Every police officer seemingly in the county is there. They’re driving armored personnel carriers. When they get there, he’s holed up in his house. The police breach the door and in full view of Chris Hansen. He shoots himself in the head.

Chris at this point has been left with no suit, just an opened white shirt showing a bulletproof vest. His mind broken either by the stress he’s put himself under or the that he just saw a man die, he mumbles his lines. Reading the transcript and going through his usual dialogue. The movie ends with “What would have happened if I wasn’t here?” as he’s left alone. Before this, his wife confronts him about getting reached out to by the National Enquirer. That she has an inkling of knowledge about the cheating. The last thing he says to her during the film is “You’re going to be so proud of me”.

The character of Andie is being courted by other channels. Particularly ABC. We see her fortunes change as much as Chris’ and she has a glimmer of hope that the district attorney is going to pan out for them. She is often annoyed by Hansen’s eccentricity and downright angry when she realizes that she can’t control him and that he might cost her a job.

The nature of art is to make you think. I haven’t stopped thinking about Primetime since I saw it on Friday. I think the movie is intelligent for not leaning one way or another on what it thinks about Chris Hansen as a person. Maybe others will see something that I don’t. But I think it presents you a deeply flawed man and you can decide for yourself who he is.

It’s a fascinating watch and I think you should check it out. Pattinson is on an all star run and honestly think he should get at least an Oscar nod for his performance here.