Producers: Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fred Berger, William Iannaccone, Robert Pattinson, Brighton McCloskey, Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster   Director: Lance Oppenheim   Screenplay: Ajon Singh   Cast: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Winter, Tony Revolori, Jonathan Lipnicki, Anna Faris, Jeff Zucker, Jessica Hecht, Eric Rahill, Bob Ari, Sean Bridges, Bill Heck, Creed Bratton and Caroline Hebert   Distributor: A24

Grade: B-

It was a sordid story both in front of the camera and behind it.  That’s the message of Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime,” not so much a docudrama as a creepy exposé of the reality behind the true-life crime series “To Catch a Predator,” which Chris Hansen hosted on MSNBC’s Dateline NBC from 2004 to 2007.

“Predator” was essentially a pseudo-news sting operation in which pedophiles were lured via chat boxes and social media to houses where they expected to find willing underage victims.  Instead, they would encounter the accusatory Hansen, who grilled them for the delectation of his audience before sending them out into the arms of waiting police.

Even at the time, the series was met with as much criticism as adulation.  But it helped spawn the public embrace of gotcha vigilantism and true crime reportage that’s become so big a part of today’s media landscape.

Documentarian David Osit dissected the success and influence of the show last year in his well-received documentary “Predators.”  Oppenheim, a documentarian himself doing his first fiction feature, isn’t so much interested in analyzing the phenomenon as in turning Hansen’s story into a squirm-inducing psychodrama of envy, hubris, self-deception and hypocrisy.  In this he succeeds, largely because of the exceptional performances he elicits from his cast and the squalid, frantic atmosphere created by his technical crew.

In this telling, Pattinson plays Hansen from the start as a ratings-hungry egomaniac, envious of the journalist cred and presumed star power of his network colleague Stone Phillips (Bill Heck), who himself would be released from NBC in 2007.  Anxious to build on the success of “To Catch a Predator,” he’s exhilarated when Jeff Zucker (amusingly playing himself in a cameo), the head of NBC programming, calls him in for a conference to tell him that while he doesn’t care for the series, he’s aware of its growing popularity and considering putting it on the network’s primetime schedule opposite ABC’s juggernaut “Lost.”  But Zucker says, the show will need to bag a big catch to increase its viability.

Hansen becomes obsessed with finding his “whale,” growing Ahab-like in the determination he shares with his computer-savvy colleague Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), the founder of Perverted-Justice. That operation was the primary means of luring pedophiles from online anonymity to houses where they could be invited in by decoys like Del Harvey (Phoebe Bridgers), real name Allison Shea, a twentysomething adept at playing both young girls and boys, before being accosted by Hansen.

Thus far the “Predator” participants are simply based on the actual people involved.  But hard-driving producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), an expert at molding the footage into dramatic shape, is a composite character.   And Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo), an aspiring actor hired to play decoy in the series’ latter stages, is based on Dan Schrack.  This presumably allowed scripter Ajon Singh to emphasize the peculiar combination of ambition and naïveté in the character that allowed Hansen to groom him for his role as effectively as his prey did their victims for theirs.

Adding to the scuzzy quality of Hansen is that just as his prospects are looking up at the network, he’s being hounded by the National Enquirer, which claims to have compromising photos of him with his mistress Krysten (Caroline Hebert), whom he’s trying to dump in order to rebuild his relationship with his wife Mary Joan (Anna Faris) and his kids.  (It’s certainly disturbing that Hansen awakens the two young boys to watch his series.)

If all that weren’t enough, the show’s procession of stings continues, with targets played by the likes of Tony Revolori, Jonathan Lipnicki, and Bob Ari falling into Hansen’s trap.  Though the film avoids presenting them as victims, they’re allowed to raise questions about Hansen’s right to treat them as he does; Ari, who identifies himself as a rabbi, is especially irate. 

And the changing television culture is encapsulated in ABC executive Patty Patterson (Jessica Hecht), who tries to poach Bender for a producing spot on a new series designed to steal Hansen’s fire.  Wever’s portrayed as considering the offer but ultimately rejecting it because the proposed show’s feel-good quality isn’t in synch with her own specialty.

Finally, the film turns to the sting that’s come to encapsulate the series’ excess.  Using Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die” as a springboard, it recreates case of Bill Conradt (Alex Winter), a deputy DA in Rockwall County, Texas, who turned out to be Hansen’s Moby Dick.  The makers make a few adjustments to the story, but they emphasize the protracted seduction of Conradt by Von Erck and Decoy Dan, as well as the less-than-stellar involvement of the local police led by goofy Chief Gunn (Bokeem Woodbine).  The sting did not go as planned, and the operation ended with the cops surrounding Conradt’s house and him committing suicide rather than surrendering.  Yet Bender is satisfied that she can pull the footage together for the show, and she does.

This culminating episode, like the recreated stings preceding it, is presented in grimy visuals by cinematographer David Bolen, sometimes in desaturated red lighting that gives them an intentionally sinister vibe.  He also shoots many scenes, especially the ones inside the claustrophobic production offices, hectically in extreme close-up, to enhance the feeling of desperation under pressure.  The effect is increased by Daniel Garber’s whiplash editing and Alex DiGerlando’s gritty production design, which leads to the impression that everything is happening in a half-hellish demimonde of deception and despair.  Alex Bovaird’s costumes add to the grim atmosphere, as does Ari Balouzian’s moody score.

But it’s the performances that elevate “Primetime” above the level of mere sensationalism to something more substantive.  Pattinson brings a crazed intensity to Hansen that smacks of pathological distress, and makes him a monster of a different sort from those he tries to build a career on.  But equally riveting is Gisondo, whose hapless willingness to bend to Hansen’s blandishments and compliments despite his misgivings gives Dan a pathetic quality.  Among the supporting cast Wever and Maher take pride of place, but all of the others, however small their roles, match them in commitment; Woodbine can’t help but stand out for his buffoonery.

“Primetime” doesn’t really do much but point out the demeaning turn that television journalism took by regularizing the breed of lurid, cheaply made, ethically questionable “reality” programming represented by “To Catch a Predator.”  But its portrait of Hansen as a man who will stop at nothing to further his self-image, no matter the damage to others, has—especially when painted by someone with the passion of Pattinson—takes it into a more broadly meaningful realm.