On Friday, September 25th, a new movie hit Patriot Cinemas. That movie was Primetime, a film about Chris Hansen and his NBC reality TV show, To Catch a Predator. The film was directed by Lance Oppenheim and features Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen and Skyler Gisondo as Daniel Plum. The movie also features an impressive score, written by Ari Balouzian.
The film is receiving a lot of hype, with Hingham High student, Ben Ferguson saying, “I’m seeing the movie this Saturday and I’m very excited.” It grossed $19.2 million in its opening weekend, more than it’s $15 million budget.
The movie is critical of To Catch a Predator, making a point of how the show went overboard sometimes, making the whole operation into a media circus rather than letting the authorities handle it. In one scene of the movie, Chris Hansen remarks, “There used to be a pillory in every village. Now there’s a TV in every household, and I’m on it.”
The filmmakers also draw an interesting parallel between the predators and the production of To Catch a Predator through the character of Daniel Plum. Daniel Plum (who is not based on one real person, but rather several ‘decoys’ from the show) is a young man who is an aspiring actor with a particular interest in musical theater. He is hired as a decoy without fully understanding what the job is until he is face to face with a man that the To Catch a Predator team had lured there, using him for his innocence much like a predator would.
It should be noted that the movie does dramatize some events, with Ajon Singh, the film’s writer, reporting, “We’re playing with the depiction of Chris Hansen in modern culture and media—how he’s become a meme—which is something Robert plays with in his dramatization and characterization of Hansen in his prime.”
Violet Tysdale praised the movie for its direction. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I felt like I was the one making the movie, if that makes any sense, because of how all of the behind the scenes elements of the movie are shown.”
This movie was unique and all-in-all a great watch. Its release proves to be another success for A24 after Backrooms last May. With this momentum, audiences should prepare for their next four movies coming out later this year.
