The foil to Pattinson’s Chris Hansen comes in the form of Skyler Gisondo’s Dan Plum, or ‘Decoy Dan’, hired by Hansen and the team to portray underage decoy children before Hansen can swoop in with his signature interrogation. Skyler brings a bubbly effervescence to Dan’s character, who we meet as a musical-theatre-loving budding actor, but who becomes sullen and, by the looks of things, somewhat traumatised by the nature of his role in the television stings, which casts an even darker shadow over the ethical practices of To Catch A Predator. Portraying the other decoy, Del Harvey, is Phoebe Bridgers, who makes an impressive acting debut playing the versatile decoy working for Perverted-Justice, who raises concerns over ethical issues involved in how the team ramps up its methods.It’s a film where the stress dial steadily turns upward as we move on, and it begins to leave a mark on the increasingly volatile Hansen, and in turn on his producer, Andie Bender, played excellently by Merritt Wever. The often-aghast producer bounces off Pattinson’s skittishness, while being somewhat uncompromising and cutthroat herself. As the tension increases, we head towards the final episode of To Catch A Predator, one that requires no artistic embellishment to dramatise given the events that took place.Where Lance Oppenheim excels with Primetime is to create this moody, humid, and uncomfortable atmosphere throughout the film, and establish a sour tone that the show and its subject area warrants. I’d have liked to see some elements of the show investigated further, or for them to spend longer on the specific episodes and cases that they highlight, but engaging performances and effective cinematography create a thrilling yet uncomfortable retelling of how Chris Hansen and Dateline NBC blurred, or more accurately, incinerated the lines between entertainment, investigative journalism, and law enforcement. You can see Primetime in UK cinemas on 30 October.
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