Robert Pattinson brings To Catch a Predator to the big screen in biopic Primetime

It's time for a rehearsal. We're going to shoot the rehearsal. Come in. They're going to love this. Predator has never earned the recognition it deserves. I want something that matters. No more bottom feeders. I want a whale. That's Robert Pattinson playing Chris Hansen, the host of the notorious show To Catch a Predator in the new movie, Primetime. It's out in theaters today. It's generating a big buzz for Pattinson's performance and for its director, Lance Oppenheim, who's only made documentaries until now. The CBC's Jackson Weaver joins us with his reviews. Jackson, we hear the term based on a true story a lot. How true exactly is this one? I'm going to say there are true elements and there's a true framing and we're going to go down the list. Of course, this is based around the popular segment on Dateline, To Catch a Predator, in which Chris Hansen, the NBC reporter, would have his team of producers go online and interact with men who are looking to meet up with somebody who is underage. They would entice them to come to a home. There's hidden cameras all around that home. And then as you see there, Chris Hansen would come out and confront that man. He would probably be arrested. That's true. Of course, Chris Hansen, a real person. And this is based around an event that happened with the show in around 2006. And I'm not going to say exactly what it is for those who don't know what happened, but if you were around watching TV during that time, you might remember the big pivotal event. That is also true. And I'm going to say another thing that's kind of true. It's not necessarily true or false, but it definitely reminds me of reality, is the way that Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen. Now, if you've seen the show, if you've seen Chris Hansen, I think you know that he has a specific timbre, a way of speaking. And I want you to take a look. I want you to see how true to life you think that Robert Pattinson's evocation of Chris Hansen is. Let's take a watch. Well, there's something you should know. I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. And we're doing a story on adults who try to meet teens online. Please don't put this on TV. Please, please, please. No decisions have been made yet. No which segments will air. And I'm going to need to ask you to leave. So I think that sounds a lot like him. And after that fact, though, I will say the truth aspect of the story diverges quite drastically. Lance Oppenheim has expressly said he's not trying to make a documentary or a recreation of events. He's more trying to unpack who Chris Hansen is, what he did, what it meant. And he does it in a way that really drastically departs from how Chris Hansen acted and some things that he did. And what exactly was Chris Hansen's involvement in the project? A gigantic goose egg? No involvement at all. He has been very vocal about this, how he says that nobody reached out to him, no one checked in with him. There was no collaboration, which is maybe a surprise because Chris Hansen has done the rounds in terms of media. He's been on The Simpsons. He's been on Jeopardy. He is not resistant to playing up his own notoriety. And that's actually what inspired Oppenheim to make this in the first place. He has said that he was a fan of To Catch a Predator when he was younger and he knew about Chris Hansen. He thought he was doing it as an altruistic goal. But then for his birthday, I believe his partner got him a cameo, one of those videos you can buy from celebrities of Chris Hansen, who went on the cameo and said, hi, Lance, why don't you take a seat? And he was playing up his bit. And Oppenheim was of the opinion that it's very interesting that this person is really leaning into the media, to the fame, to the personality that he is building, more so than the real work he is doing. In Oppenheim's opinion. So what he's trying to unpack is how good of an act can this be when it's done for entertainment? And again, in the movie's argument for self-aggrandizement to advance your own position. Interesting. OK, so what works or what doesn't when it comes to primetime? I will say Juan Pattinson, I think is incredible in this. I was talking up during TIFF, the Julianne Moore movie, the debut. I'm saying she's definitely gonna get nominated for Best Actress. I think this is another shoe-in nomination for Best Actress. Pattinson's best role, I think. And then I also say that argument I just mentioned is really interestingly done. It is so muddy intentionally to unpack this very complicated issue. And I think the stylization is very cool. The 2000s nostalgia that we're seeing on screen here is very well done. And there's three nested stories that communicate with one another. It gets very odd. There's horror, there's comedy, there is cultural commentary. There's just so much going on here. And I'm so impressed by all of it. All right. Well, I can guess that your rating is gonna be pretty good then. Yeah, I'm not gonna be a curmudgeon today. I'm not gonna be negative. We got a star rating here and I'm gonna pull it up and we can see just how much of a fan I was of this film. Let's see. It's a four out of five for me. Very strong movie. And I definitely, if you're willing to be a little bit creeped out and a little bit challenged, it's maybe the movie for you. OK, Jackson, thank you. And you can read Jackson's full review of PRIMETIME over on our website or the CBC News app. Thanks.