My Review of Primetime (2026)

 

Written by Ajon Singh

Directed by Lance Oppenheim

Chris Hansen: "What would've happened if I wasn't here? You see how this looks, right? At the end of the day, a man must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes. Do you agree? Do you watch television? Well, there's something you should know. I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. And you're about to be a part of television history."

I missed this in theatres, so I waited for the digital release. Was it worth the hype? Oh, I think so. There's at least three career defining performances throughout this film. Yes, I said three.

First up, there's Robert Pattinson himself. He's had a hell of a year with knockout performances in The Drama and The Odyssey and there's still Dune Part Three to come next month. Then again, he's been quite a good number of years and long may it continue.

Casting him as To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen as part of Dateline NBC was a stroke of genius. The voice alone was nailed perfectly and the mid to late 2000s, it was one of the most talked about shows in America. Hansen made himself a figure of dread with his pursuit of child predators and this film explored both his desire to hold these sort of men to account while also being engrossed by his growing recognition too.

I like that this film explored both aspects to Hansen as a person in an attempt to give him plenty of dimensions as a person. He wasn't above extramarital affairs with his own marriage to his wife, Mary Joan (Anna Faris) barely hanging on by a thread while he struggled to connect with his own children.

The more successful that the show became, the more we saw the darker aspects of Hansen's pursuit of both justice and tv ratings. In particular, his treatment of the decoys Del Harvey (Phoebe Bridgers) and Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo) didn't exactly bring out his good side.

There's a huge focus on Dan in particular or Decoy Dan as he became known as. This might sound hyperbolic but Skyler Gisondo gave such a commanding performance, he nearly overpowered Pattinson at certain points in the film. I knew he was a good actor but his performance absolutely blew me away. One of the most captivating performances this year. 

However, it's not just Pattinson and Gisondo who stand out here. There's also another commanding from Merritt Wever as Hansen's producer, Andie Bender. She's absolutely brilliant, especially in that one scene where she went to extremes in order to get Hansen to get his shot together. These three absolutely elevate the film and deserve any award love coming their way.

- The show became so popular that NBC put it up against ABC mystery series, Lost. That worked in their favour.

- There's some strong supporting and minor performances from Matthew Maher, Alex Winter, Jonathan Lipnicki and Tony Revolori to name a few.

- Standout music: Skyler Gisondo's version of Seasons Of Love and Phoebe Bridgers On Video.

- Chronology: Mostly set in 2006.

Primetime (2026) certainly provided three of the best performances this award season. Robert Pattinson, Skyler Gisondo and Merritt Wever are absolutely exceptional throughout this film. The script's a little flawed,  so points deducted but overall, I really enjoyed this film.

Rating: 8 out of 10