Robert Pattinson in “Primetime.”
A24
Robert Pattinson’s film Primetime, which is inspired by Chris Hansen’s true crime To Catch a Predator series from NBC’s Dateline, is being met with near-unanimous praise by critics after its premiere at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival.
Directed by Lance Oppenheim, Primetime begins in 2006, when Hansen (Pattinson) is in the midst of making television history by using hidden cameras to catch suspected child predators as they meet child decoys at their homes and are arrested by police.
The sting operations, which involved Hansen confronting suspects at the scene of the staged encounters with young-looking adult actors, attracted huge ratings, big media attention and controversy during the show’s run from 2004 to 2007. However, To Catch a Predator was canceled in 2008 following the suicide of a suspect — a Texas prosecutor — as he was being served a warrant by authorities.
Rated R, Primetime also stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Alex Winter, Bokeem Woodbine and Phoebe Bridgers, and is set for a Sept. 25 release in theaters. Early reviews, however, have been published by critics who attended the film’s world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
As of the publication of this article, Primetime has earned a 93% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 14 reviews. RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Primetime’?
Jessica Kiang of Variety is among RT’s critics who give Primetime a “fresh” rating, writing, “This uncompromisingly grimy approach would be actively repellent were it not for the extraordinary performances, which make Primetime a thing you cannot stop watching even as the desire to flee to the nearest shower cubicle grows.”
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter also awards the film a “fresh” score while referring to Predators, the acclaimed 2025 documentary about To Catch a Predator. Rooney writes in his RT review summary, “Although Primetime is entertaining in a sicko, silly sort of a way, it shows too little intellectual or psychological curiosity to displace Predators as the more serious study and might leave you wondering who and what this anti-date movie is for.”
Bilge Ebiri of New York Magazine gives Primetime a “fresh” score while praising Robert Pattinson’s performance as Chris Hansen. Ebiri writes on RT, “I’ve admired Pattinson for years, but nothing quite prepared me for his turn as Hansen … It’s a stunning demonstration of the actor’s range, and watching the film you can’t imagine any other performer of his generation pulling it off.”
Primetime also earned a “fresh” review on RT from Damon Wise of Deadline, who writes, “Making his feature debut after a brace of docs, director Lance Oppenheimer has a lot of fun exploring the perfect storm that creates a show like To Catch a Predator.”
As of the publication of this article, Nikki Baughan of Screen International is the only critic on RT to give Primetime a “rotten” score, writing, “Underneath all that vim and vigour, the film never quite captures the essence of this troubled production, nor gets a real handle on its multi-faceted host.”
Primetime opens in theaters nationwide on Sept. 25.
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