Deadline's review of "Primetime," which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, examines Lance Oppenheim's feature debut starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the real-life host of the reality show "To Catch a Predator." The film dramatises the making of Hansen's controversial 2004-2007 series, which lured suspected online predators to a "bait house" for on-camera confrontations, and traces the pressures that eventually led to its cancellation, multiple lawsuits and the 2025 documentary "Predators." The reviewer frames the film as a morality tale about how populism and the pursuit of ratings can corrode ethical judgement, comparing it thematically to Danny Boyle's Venice opener "Ink."

The review highlights strong supporting performances, including Merritt Wever as producer Andie Bender and Skyler Gisondo as naive decoy actor "Decoy Dan" Plum, alongside Pattinson's portrayal of an insecure Hansen desperate to be taken as seriously as journalists like Mike Wallace. As the show competes with ratings juggernaut "Lost," Hansen faces mounting personal and professional pressure — including a tabloid-exposed affair — pushing him to pursue an increasingly high-profile target, likened to Captain Ahab's pursuit of the white whale. The reviewer describes the result as an intense, self-referential film using layered surveillance imagery, though notes Oppenheim resists portraying the media as inherently corrupt.