The world was a very different place 20 years ago; nothing was funnier than The Office, no one had to know what Twitter was, and Chris Hansen‘s To Catch a Predator was a good idea. I’m not above admitting how many laughs I had at the expense of the Dateline spin-off in which Hansen teamed with Perverted-Justice to publicly shame those trying to meet minors for sex, if only for the gravitas the journalist brought to reading screen names like meatrocket8 or Hambubger. In retrospect, of course, Hansen’s entire crusade is noble in intent and insane in execution, which is exactly what Lance Oppenheim‘s Primetime showcases. Thanks to Robert Pattinson‘s transformative performance and darkly absurd tone, the movie effectively conveys the dangers of delusional righteousness.

Hansen (Pattinson) has a few episodes of To Catch a Predator under his belt, in which he partners with an organization that poses as teens to lure predatory men to staged homes where a decoy teen meets them and Hansen confronts them with their sexually charged conversations. Understandably, audiences couldn’t get enough of the program, and while Hansen claims he is motivated by bringing these predators to justice, he also has to meet the expectations of the network, which has moved his show into a primetime slot. Hansen navigates his on-camera crusade, his own marriage falling apart, and the weighted issue of whether criminal justice is more effective than highly publicized shaming.

Part of what makes Primetime so effective in conveying the complicated and shocking atmosphere that resulted in To Catch a Predator thriving is that, rather than the movie serving as a record of events from an entirely authentic perspective, it blurs the line between truth and fiction. Pattinson’s Hansen and everything the character goes through aren’t attempting to genuinely reflect the real-life Hansen so much as convey the idea of the figure. We quickly come to realize Hansen is a perfectionist who thrives on shaming predators publicly, given how heinous their actions are. This objective slowly starts to shift throughout the narrative, as Hansen realizes he needs to bring in a “whale” in order to compete with the ratings Lost is getting.

Between Primetime and The Drama, you really have to hand it to Pattinson for starring in two of the most morally thought-provoking movies of 2026. While The Drama makes you question what the worst thing is that you’re willing to overlook for the person you love, Primetime questions the effectiveness of humiliation for audience entertainment as a form of punishment. Primetime‘s Hansen cites an investigation he did into child trafficking as the inspiration for To Catch a Predator, as he wants to help save as many children from harm as he can. Even if the crusade is noble, he completely loses sight of the tactics he’s using, assuming that any pushback he receives is essentially saying it’s okay for predators to get away with what they’re doing. Of course, there’s no strong evidence in the movie or in real life that the program prevented sexual predators, as Hansen instead used the righteousness of his mission as his North Star that demanded he continue his quest.

Amplifying the effectiveness of the movie’s explorations of the ethical grey area of To Catch a Predator are characters like Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), Hansen’s producer who has to wrangle all of the logistics. Essentially representing the network, Andie initially supports Hansen blindly, only to doubt his campaign as he loses sight of his goal when he opts not to catch as many predators as possible and instead pursue a public figure. Andie also reflects how easy it is to put your own morals behind you when you’re offered a chance to make television history. Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo), meanwhile, is a hopeful actor who thinks the mysterious role of a decoy can lead to bigger things. While To Catch a Predator merely needs him to lure in targets, he approaches the project as if it were any other role, only for the more times he plays a teen, the more he finds it difficult to tell who is perpetrating the more predatory behavior. Phoebe Bridgers also has a supporting role as a decoy, whose history with Perverted-Justice leans more on the “justice” and less on the theatrics of the show’s ambush techniques.

Primetime feels like a natural extension in Oppenheim’s career, as a previous documentary of his, Spermworld, explored similarly murky moral arenas. That film chronicled the lives of sperm donors who, in their seemingly benevolent actions, showcase a much more questionable side of themselves. Some won’t rest until they can create as many children as possible while others shirk their own relationships in favor of donating sperm. Oppenheim’s direction, along with Ajon Singh‘s script, is often hilarious while also avoiding the base-level humor of mocking the predators (well, there’s some of that, but only sparingly). Instead, the humor is derived from the insanity of not only the existence of To Catch a Predator, but also of its rise in pop-culture importance.

If nothing else, hopefully Primetime causes viewers to reevaluate everything they thought they knew about the To Catch a Predator craze and, with two decades of hindsight, causes them to look internally at what made it such a phenomenon. I’d also highly recommend pulling a double feature with Primetime and the documentary Predators, which takes a more analytical and societal approach to dissecting the series, which includes interviews with Hansen himself.

Wolfman Moon Scale