Primetime

⭐ 9/10

I thought this movie was so good. It combines the "great man" drive of something like There Will Be Blood or Whiplash or Marty Supreme with modern attention-seeking, and its based on a true story! I was aware of Chris Hansen and To Catch A Predator, but I was pretty young and didn't think too much about it. But this movie is fixated on the people who made that show, and whether what they were doing was good for anyone. Don't get me wrong, obviously pedophiles are a problem, but there is a really interesting dynamic here. This show basically entraps people, playing on their darkest desires and then utterly shaming them on national television. Chris keeps saying "what would happen if I wasn't here", and the movie makes you think, well, maybe nothing! These creeps would still be creeps, but the show's intent was to make them act on it, which might not have even happened without the show.

Pattinson is phenomenal, driven by this holy crusade but clearly also reveling in the fame that comes with. Several times someone expresses how they think he's a hero, and he feels that way too. Maybe he is! I actually thought the standout was Skylar Gisondo, Decoy Dan, a young actor trying to score an acting job and ends up being prey for these pervs. He gets sexually assaulted every day for his job! The movie does an excellent job unpacking this, how it makes him feel, making it bigtime on a massively popular show but also being ashamed by what it makes you do, all the while Hansen's telling him he's a super hero. I know I just said Antonio Banderas should be nominated for Supporting Actor, and I still feel that way, but I legit think Gisondo should win it, what a performance. Its really fascinating, and I love that they made a dramatic retelling of all this instead of a documentary, which is what Lance Oppenheim mostly does.

Speaking of which, give me You Can See Everything right now! What a year for this guy. This movie has so much style, insane closeups, dramatic lighting choices, feels like an interrogation of every person in frame. But like a good documentarian he's not moralizing, he's just making you think about what all this actually means, what it does to the people involved. Him teaming up with Nathan Fielder is so exciting.

There is another character in the stew, and that's the producer, who's goal is to make the show a hit. Her desensitization is bleak to see, and she carries all of Hansen's intensity without the self mythologizing. She has a line at the end that really sums up the whole movie that I won't spoil here. There are a couple other characters, including other decoy actors, and the dudes who carry on these chats with men while pretending to be a kid, essentially luring their next victims. This is dark subject matter, had me thinking of the show Furious again. Maybe these people are heroes, at the cost of their own humanity.

Bokeem Woodbine shows up for a bit and is hilarious. Dan's acting buddy back home gets very little time but has some terrific line readings over the phone. Jonathan Lipnicki shows up as one of the predators, which is an inspired choice. A child actor of this era, it was an amazing connection to discover after the movie. Similar to Gisondo, who has had a million small parts in a million things since he was a child, this movie is kind of about what it means to be an actor, and those two guys are perfect,

Every aspect of this movie knocks it out of the park. I think its timed super well too, not only with Epstein, but also the public's increasing obsession with virtue signaling and seeking justice from behind a keyboard. Honestly I am surprised this show hasn't made a comeback, the internet would love it. This movie brings way more nuance than the internet is capable of though, and guess what, Chris Hansen didn't like it! That's an endorsement of the movie in my books.