‘Primetime’ review: Robert Pattinson and Phoebe Bridgers team up to catch a predator

Robert Pattinson has had a superb year playing untrustworthy men. He was funny and slightly pathetic as cheating Charlie opposite Zendaya in The Drama, played deliciously slimey antagonist Antinous in The Odyssey and, in Primetime, stars as American TV journalist Chris Hansen in what might be his most provocative outing yet. READ MORE: ‘The Drama’ review: Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s darkly funny wedding comedy should come with a trigger warning Set in 2006, Primetime follows Hansen through the early years of hosting successful reality TV show To Catch A Predator. The team, led by ace producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), set up fake online accounts and pretend to be children in order to lure suspected paedophiles into a real-life trap. Each episode concludes with a meeting between one of the adult decoys and the person they have entrapped. During this encounter, filmed with hidden cameras, Hansen walks into the frame and reveals that the whole thing has been set up for television before the police get involved. It’s Punk’d with a prison sentence. Hansen’s production team may not be as vile as the predators they catch but they’re still a sleazy bunch happily working in a web of ...