Robert Pattinson is having a remarkable run, and his boldest performance may be arriving in theaters with “Primetime.” The new A24 film from director Lance Oppenheim has been a major point of anticipation since its first trailer revealed Pattinson portraying “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen. Now that critics have watched the complete movie, early reactions suggest the film could be one of the year’s biggest hits. Watch the video above for a closer look at the reviews and everything to know before “Primetime” opens on September 25.
The consensus, in short, is highly enthusiastic. Oppenheim’s direction has drawn particular attention, as has the movie’s suffocating atmosphere and sharply observed visual recreation of mid-2000s reality television. Although “Primetime” is technically a biopic, it unfolds like a thriller—and at times, a full-blown horror film—a tonal choice that suits its unsettling subject.
“Primetime” is “both a nightmarish psychological thriller and a pitch black comedy unpacking the very idea of Chris Hansen,” Looper critic Dominic Griffin wrote. Like several other reviewers, Griffin points to the friction between the real events that inspired the movie and the considerable liberties taken in bringing them to the screen. Even so, the prevailing assessment is that the film’s creative risks pay off far more often than they miss.
Critics are calling Primetime a triumph for Pattinson in particular
A24
At the time of writing, “Primetime” has earned an 89% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes’ critical aggregator, based on 84 reviews. Much of that acclaim is aimed at Pattinson, whose work here could represent his strongest Oscar opportunity to date. In a 3.5/4-star review for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz praised Pattinson’s unusual talent for playing characters with almost bottomless moral shamelessness, writing that the actor had been given “a motherlode of sleaze.” BBC critic Nicholas Barber went even further, calling it “the best performance yet from the most intriguing actor of his generation” and awarding the movie a perfect 5/5 stars.
Still, the response has not been universally glowing, particularly when it comes to the film’s broader themes. “Primetime” leans heavily into fictionalized drama rather than straightforward biography, and that approach may not work for every viewer. Peter Bradshaw awarded the movie 2/5 stars in The Guardian, describing it as “a strangely overwrought and heavy-footed drama-thriller” whose neon-soaked noir style fails to clarify what it wants to say about media, morality or anything else.
For a deeper look at the critical conversation surrounding “Primetime,” watch the full video above. The film arrives in theaters on September 25.
