Primetime is inspired from a real life story of a TV journalist who caught potential online child sexual predators and exposed them on television. I personally had no idea on this man and his show and hence, it made for an interesting watch. The film is presented in a narrow aspect ratio in sync with the found footage and TV footage of the mid 2000s. Even the light used is reminiscent of the television of that era. The character of 23 year old Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo) is the best of the lot and keeps the interest going. However, the storytelling levels drop in some places while the personal life of the protagonist fails to entice. The climax is a bit abrupt. Also, since it’s distributed by PVR Inox Pictures, there are no subtitles and it hampers the impact big time. Robert Pattinson, however, delivers a smashing performance and is very convincing as the cold, narcissistic reporter. Skyler Gisondo has a crucial part and delivers a fantastic performance. Merritt Wever (Andie Bender), Matthew Maher (Xavier Von Erck) and the child predators do well. All in all, Primetime makes for a decent one time watch.
My rating – *** out of 5!