Photo Credit: A24 / Primetime Poster (Used under Fair Use)
Prime Times Directed by Lance Oppenheim and The World of To Catch a Predator
Just talking about another Robert Patson movie in 2026. 2026, the year of Robert Patson and Anne Hathaway. She's not in this movie, so I guess Robert Patson right now. To Catch a Predator, who didn't watch that show back in the 2000s. So, Prime Times directed by Lance Oppenheim. I can't be the only one who always wants to end that name with an it stars Robert Patson as Chris Hansen from Deline NBC. Admittedly, I cannot do that Chris Hansen voice as well as he does. He does such a good Chris Hansen voice here. But he plays Chris Hansen. It's about Chris Hansen and the show To Catch a Predator from back in the 2000s. It's not really a Chris Hansen biopic. It's kind of more a To catch a predator biopic. But whereas this does deal with ambition and where's the moral area here? Yeah, the guy's out catching predators. Sure. Suppose I should set that up for what To Catch a Predator was. To Catch a Predator was what Dutch and his crew tried to do before Dutch's crew was completely wiped out. To Catch a Predator was a show on Dline NBC hosted by Chris Hansen. People who were part of the crew of To Catch a Predator would be in chat rooms posing as minors talking to adults. Those adults in the chat rooms would then want to meet those they thought were minors that they were talking to for very disgusting purposes. During the meetup, Chris Hansen would come out with the print out of the entire conversation. The camera crew would roll in and then those guys would try to leave and then they get tased, cuffed, arrested. And in the 2000s, that was damn good television. So, that's what this movie is about. This movie does deal with address and wrestle with Chris Hansen. Were his motives really pure or did he just want to have the biggest TV show by any means necessary?
Robert Patson as Chris Hansen and The Cast Wrestling with Ambition
Robert Patson's great in the movie. He's got the inflection down the voice. Patson's great in beyond the Chris Hansen persona, like beyond the voice. He's great. He has to sell the audience on he believes in what he's doing. But does his belief in what he's doing supersede his want to be the biggest? But I was surprised that it was Skyler Gizmando. Pronunciation check on the name. He's really the heart and soul of the film. I actually appreciated what it was addressing there. They get these out of work actors, give them steady pay. Of course, they're going to be the bait. I mean, why not? It's a steady paycheck in Burbank, California for an aspiring actor. But he's wrestling with, are people taking my work seriously? Does Chris Hansen even care? I suppose I don't find the film controversial now because at a point, you know, like when these shows were all out, we were like, "Hey, they're doing it for the moral good, right? That's the motivation." Then at a point, you just kind of get wise to the Hollywood act and you're like, that's not the motivation that's driving them. So, what did it actually look like in production for To Catch a Predator? For Chris Hansen, his villains, are they the Predators? Could be. But this movie shows us the real Chris Hansen villains are those polar bears from Lost. We ambition. Someone making a TV show. The TV show is crushing, but it's not getting respect. He wants it to get the respect, but also get the numbers. And that pressure that leads to escalation. Got to have the next thing bigger than the last thing. In this social media day and age, like we see that with social media influencers, Tik Tockers, YouTubers, and such, when their channels are built on shock ratio and it's supposed to look like to catch a Predator footage. But most of the movie looks wider than 4x3. That's the square CRT television aspect ratio. It looks wider than that, but not as wide as the widescreen aspect ratio like you see here. You know, the 178 aspect ratio. So, this looks somewhere in between 4x3 and 178, but it also stylistically looks 16 mm, not 35.
Stylistic Throwback Aesthetic, Production Layout, and Good Entertainment
There's a little grainier. The contrast was more blown out. Regardless, it was a solid stylistic throwback aesthetic and I enjoyed that. So, whereas To Catch a Predator made for some good entertainment, the film Deconstructing To Catch a Predator makes for some good entertainment. I say good entertainment, not great entertainment, because this movie admittedly is not as great as I thought it could be. Maybe the proper phrasing is not made it look. I don't know. I thought the first couple acts, maybe the first half, it was in the zone. It was a setup of the world of the production of the show. This kid who wants to be an actor in Hollywood and he just lands this role as one of the decoys on To Catch a Predator and he's just thrown into the middle of it. It was engaging. Also, the film in general is oddly funnier than I thought it would be. I feel like I almost have to explain like Predator thing. It's actually dealing with Chris Hansen losing his mind over the show thing. And it's actually surprisingly funny. I do mean losing his mind, too. At least that's what the editing entails. You know, there are these moments where it just looks psychedelic as hell, but then there's this side plot of essentially extortion and tabloids. It works for what the movie's going for. But if someone out there told me, don't think they're going to tell me, but if I found out that this thing in the movie was filmed and put in after the fact, after the first cut, after the test audience screening, they just needed something else to show why Chris Hansen's going over the deep end. The show didn't feel like it was enough. Okay. an affair scandal thing and it still makes sense and then the movie's going it's pretty intense and then it ends. It just it's over now.
Prime Time as a Formulaic Cautionary Tale of Ambition
Probably would have been a smoother ending if it cut to credits immediately had Ferris Beer come around the corner in a robe being like you're still here it's over. But in the end I enjoyed Prime Time. is formulaic in a way. I mean, it's not a musical biopic clearly, but if I said know, the formula I'm talking about is formulaic in a way that's far more specific and niche than the musical biopic formula. But there is something about Prime Time that feels formulaic for the formula of ambitious TV host who wants to be the biggest ever, but he's not really as respected as he thinks he is. Right? It's that Boiled Down is a movie about the cautionary tale of ambition. And if you're a struggling actor
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