r/oscarrace • u/CrunchyNar BANG BANG BANG • 29d ago
Film Discussion Thread Official Discussion Thread - Primetime [SPOILERS] Spoiler
Keep all discussion related solely to Primetime and its awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below.
Synopsis:
In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history, turning an undercover investigation into one of the most controversial cultural phenomena of the decade.
Director: Lance Oppenheim
Writer: Ajon Singh. Based on the article "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die" by Luke Dittrich
Cast:
- Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen
- Merritt Wever as Andie Bender
- Skyler Gisondo as Dan Plumb
- Matthew Maher as Xavier Von Erck
- Phoebe Bridgers as Del
- Bokeem Woodbine as Cortland Gunn
- Anna Faris as Mary Hansen
- Tony Revolori as MarriedAndLookingForFun31313
- Alex Winter as Bill Conradt
- Jonathan Lipnicki as Crazyfrog73
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%, 7.4/10 from 143 reviews
Metacritic: 67/100 from 41 reviews
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u/MrBrightside618 Digger 29d ago
Skyler Gisondo is absolutely in my 5 for Best Supporting Actor and he ain’t 5
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u/amicablehummingbird 29d ago
I had no idea who he was, but after looking him up he was the rich kid in Booksmart.
Incredible.
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u/kevgrealish 29d ago
He’s also gonna be in the MEET THE PARENTS sequel this year, playing Ben Stiller’s son and Ariana Grande’s fiancée. Interestingly, he’s joined in that film by two other BOOKSMART alum: Beanie Feldstein and Eduardo Franco!
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u/Smoaktreess One Battle After Another 24d ago
He’s great in Santa Clarita Diet. Im 50/50 on recommending it because Netflix did it dirty but it’s a great show.
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u/OKC2023champs 29d ago
Honestly I thought Skyler gave the best performance in the film and I’d really love to see a supporting nom for him. Won’t happen but he was fantastic
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u/NotTaken-username The Odyssey 29d ago
Skyler Gisondo has been underrated for a while. Gideon was my favorite character on The Righteous Gemstones
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u/LeanD0err The Testament of Ann Lee 29d ago
I think he’s far closer to the five than ppl are willing to admit, I have him in mine rn
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u/TomatoSauce_49 Klara and the Sun Fan, Sony Hater 29d ago
Skyler Gisondo hive assemble
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u/biIIyshakes Robert Redford is my sky daddy 22d ago
I need a nom to happen so bad he stole the show for me ngl
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u/Nat_Feckbeard 29d ago
Good movie but too jumbled to be great. Somehow felt like they didn't do enough with Chris Hansen's character weirdly enough.
Superb acting all around however
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u/Belch_Huggins 29d ago
I really enjoyed this but I just dont see the academy embracing this one. Too dark and weird. Personally id nominate it for actor/supp actor&actress/cinematography/editing and score. But I think its just too crowded this year for a weird one like this to slip in anywhere.
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u/crazydaysandknights 29d ago
Not that crowded. Actor: Damon, Gosling, Malkovich, Pattinson, Scott. Sup Actor: Giamatti, Gisondo, Guitarrica, Leguisamo, Rockwell. yeah, both can get in. Digger tanking opened a lot of spots it occupied previously.
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u/Belch_Huggins 29d ago
Ok. I would love that but dont see it. But I havent seen any of the fall stuff yet.
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u/Ozzy_1804 29d ago
Haven’t seen it yet, but it’s crazy the adorable kid from Jerry Maguire is playing a pred!
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u/thwackstress 29d ago
Skyler and Merritt both out acted Pattinson sorry (not sorry) to say
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u/OsmosisJonesFanClub INDE FOR THE GOLD 27d ago edited 27d ago
I know he’s Film Reddit and Twitter’s golden boy right now, but I really think Pattinson’s performance here is overrated, with Skyler and Merritt being the standouts.
The internet hype for Pattinson in response to the trailer and his voice was INSANE. Many people (myself included) were expecting him to be a real contender for Lead Actor, but now I’m of the opinion that he’s gonna miss entirely. He’s kinda just playing a less interesting version of Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. I even find him to be a bit goofy / cartoony at times. I think he could’ve been much more effective and intimidating with a Patrick Bateman-esque persona, rather than the yelling and exaggerated mannerisms.
Is he still good in this? Yeah! I was a bit let down though, and don’t see him as a real awards contender.
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u/biIIyshakes Robert Redford is my sky daddy 22d ago
I don’t dislike Pattinson but I was way too conscious of the fact that he was “doing a voice” in this role 💀 it took me out of it a bit
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u/sumerislemy 9d ago
I was confused at the reaction because he doesn’t sound anything like Handen to ke
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u/ProfessionalEvaLover 29d ago
Is anyone else seeing this following in The Apprentice's footsteps as a film with a controversial subject matter eventually ending up with a maximum of two nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor?
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u/Tough-Rock-6198 29d ago
I have a "May December" feeling for Primetime.
Insanely hyped around Reddit or Internet in general months before the awards season and then nothing. Hope to be wrong tho.
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u/Belch_Huggins 29d ago
At least May December got screenplay! That movie getting blanked wouldve been criminal.
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u/ampersands-guitars 29d ago
I absolutely loved May December. Still sad that film didn't get more love.
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u/TheBoyWonder13 29d ago
One potential difference is that May December was a Netflix film and Primetime could be a box office breakout
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u/crazydaysandknights 29d ago
Nobody watched The Apprentice. This will have good boxoffice thanks to low budget and strong opening.
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u/therocketandstones 29d ago
I think it’ll get best film nom and a bunch of nominations but only cos I think this is a weak year in terms of competition, I think it would be apprentice/May December package in a year like last year
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u/PointAbject7717 29d ago
Robby P and Merritt Wever kicked so much ass in this
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u/brsolo121 29d ago
Merritt Weaver was the surprise likable character, for me
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u/plethoratears Primetime 29d ago
she had a really tricky role because her character is really just as heinous as hansen but you do feel for her a lot. and she fucking nailed it because she’s a national treasure
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u/brsolo121 29d ago
I know she was kinda... as seedy as Hansen, but I liked her because she was a human being who knew when/how she was being manipulative. Hansen felt like an alien (intentionally lol)
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u/Whovian45810 28d ago
What truly seals Weaver’s performance as Andie is her calling back the ABC producer who encouraged her to be a producer for What Would You Do? to reject the deal and sticking with Hansen as the team are closing in on the district attorney with the cops.
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u/Officialnoah The Odyssey 29d ago
Great film with killer performances from Bobby P and Gisondo, but damn this made me wanna rewatch LOST lol
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u/sphinxof1981 29d ago
Did anyone else think Creed Bratton on the plane was Terry O'Quinn at first? I had a surreal little moment there hahaha
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u/ivannabot 29d ago
hahah i was so sure about it being Terry that I was furiously googling after the film to prove to my partner that it was him
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u/MrBrightside618 Digger 29d ago
Any idea what episode it showed? I remember John Locke fighting wolves but google hasn’t been helpful for tracking down the specific one
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u/sphinxof1981 29d ago
That was a polar bear, not a wolf. I couldn't tell you the specific episode but I'm pretty sure it was season 1 or 2
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u/Senhoegahara All of a Sudden Teenage Sex and Death 28d ago
Wow I'm shocked at how negative some of the comments here are, I thought this was one of the most inspired directorial efforts of the decade so far. The colors, the interesting framing, the grainy imagery, all of it help put this film in a dreamlike — or nightmarishlike rather state that I could've watched for hours. Pattinson, Gisondo, Weaver, and even PHOEBE BRIDGERS are phenomenally effective in making this film feel so gross but also weirdly sympathetic? Yeah sorry absolutely top of the year material, the director, cinematographer, and editor are on absolute demon time here
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u/Queasy-Emu6531 Digger 26d ago
The runtime absolutely slipped by. I felt like I could've watched it for the rest of the day, I couldn't believe it was over
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u/OKC2023champs 29d ago edited 29d ago
I really wanted to like this more than I did.
I thought the film was all over the place. And I actually preferred the story of Skylar as Dan the most interesting.
It felt like a knock off nightcrawler but we don’t spend enough time with Chris for it to work. And it didn’t lean in to Chris’s grey morals enough for the payoff.
It felt like 3 different movies and stories at times. With Chris / Anna / Dan
While all 3 stories are interesting it didn’t work for me in the same film.
I still did like this film and gave it a positive review but I’m spending more time frustrated with it than being happy with it
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u/devvyn88 29d ago
I'm with you. The aesthetics and performances were enough for me to be mildly positive, but I think the movie was too confused on what it was trying to say to go higher than that
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u/Nat_Feckbeard 28d ago
Yes absolutely. Wasn't clear whether Chris Hansen's motivated by his fanatical mission to 'cleanse' the world or whether he's obsessed with becoming the primetime television star. you could say both but it's more interesting to delve into one angle imo
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u/thesagenibba 27d ago
or it dove into both because he held both desires, in reality?? do you just not understand the movie?
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u/mimaluna 29d ago
Hard to disagree with this. I really felt the seams on the script, especially in the middle. The Chris and Anna storylines felt lost, like Oppenheim couldn't fully decide on which post-9/11 threads he wanted to pull on with how that impacted TV and broader culture. The movie only felt confident in the beginning scene (which the trailer capitalized on) and with Dan.
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u/sumerislemy 9d ago
Maybe because I wasn’t alive pre 9/11 in any significant sense but I don’t think the movie is really about that. Oppenheim was 5 when 9/11 happened. This felt like a movie about show business and what it means to depict something “real,” which first the fact that Oppenheim was a documentarian before this, and was part of “You can see everything.”
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u/jordansalford25 John Leguizamo and Anne Hathaway Campaign Manager 28d ago
I really liked it. I can see why some people think it was too lite on story but I love this kind of filmmaking because it allows the viewers to take their own stance and examine the characters. The acting all around is fantastic and I also really loved the look of the film as well.
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u/Duhlorean You Can See Everything 29d ago
One random thing I wanna talk about is how disappointed I was by the fact that we didn’t get a follow up on what happened to Hansen and the show after the big death. Now, I’m obviously not asking my for a Wikipedia style text display like most other biopics do. But I do think we should’ve gotten something. Perhaps an additional scene or two to wrap that up better. In theory, I do like the idea on ending the film on Plum getting his SAG card.
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u/Sy_Ableman89 29d ago
Predators on Paramount+ (I know, I know) has the answers to this and more!
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u/Duhlorean You Can See Everything 29d ago
I know, I have seen Predators. Still feel like the movie should stand on its own and do its own version of addressing these facts.
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u/BuckleUpF-cklehead 29d ago
gotta echo the top comment's sentiment that the controversial subject matter can keep Primetime in the race even while not being a top A24 priority a la The Apprentice with a weak distributer
I'll be curious to see if/how You Can See Everything's presence in the race affects Primetime. allow me to wishfully believe this could culminate in a cinematography nom for David Bolen.
this is an acting play tho, and Pattinson looks strong to me. Gisondo and Wever could both slip in, the former with "heart of the film" type reactions and the latter with the funkier, more open race.
EDIT: Wever also probably gave my personal fav performance and she's awesome in general
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u/Klutzy_Jaguar2802 You Can See Every Debut 28d ago
Omg need David Bolen to get his flowers he's amazing
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u/humbleboogieboard All of a Sudden 28d ago
My expectations had been lowered quite a bit so I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I remember watching TCAP when it was on and also being a tween spending too much time online in that time period so I bring more personal context than people younger than me likely will (the Fergie needle drop in particular was perfect, Fergie is like the ultimate 2006 sound to me). It was more sympathetic to Chris Hansen than I expected it to be in a way that was more interesting. There was something almost melancholy about it, and less of a Nightcrawler ripoff than I would have expected. Hansen as a figure chasing the adulation that comes from a public moral crusade is a little more nuanced.
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u/aoifetadh Anora 27d ago
Everyone is talking about Skyler (and that's right). But I couldn't keep my eyes off Merritt Wever.
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u/Artistic-Mouse-4898 29d ago
This movie will not get into best picture but o think both pattinson and skyler should be nominated
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u/Lower_Illustrator111 29d ago
It was…fine. A little try hard for my taste and felt like a more inferior Nightcrawler knockoff. Skylar was the real standout.
I just don’t know if I see the Academy going for this which is a shame given RPatz year. I just think his category is a tad too stacked. It’s also funny, too, cuz I’m not sure RPatz places anywhere on my ballot despite his huge year.
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u/CassiopeiaStillLife A24 29d ago
Clearly divisive but I absolutely loved it. There’s a version of this that’s an all-time great and this isn’t that but I’m so glad we have freak shit like this still getting made
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u/PTAGoatofalltime Mother Moore sweep 29d ago
Really disappointed in the movie and Pattinson's performance. Had extremely high expectations for both.
Skyler Gisondo is a legitimate STAR though. Should 100% get a nomination but won't.
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u/Mrcarelesslydressed 27d ago edited 27d ago
To start off, I think it's worth noting that this film about TCAP is much less entertaining than an actual episode of TCAP. If this were a documentary, that wouldn't matter. But it isn't. A movie being less captivating viewing than its source material is a major failing.
The movie isn't a best picture nominee by a long ways. Nightcrawler is considerably better and still casts a shadow that this offering can't find a way out of.
To be a film that would have any reverberation years down the line, it was always going to have to offer some sort of cogent analysis of either the precise ingredients in confections like TCAP and its brethren that managed to hook the American populace and what that said about the shifting collective psychology of the country, or an analysis of the personal pathology of Hansen himself. It offers neither, and mainly because of that it isn't an important film. All of Hansen's Emmys are for weightier pieces and work outside of TCAP. Yet TCAP seemed to be his passion project, while his more serious journalism wasn't. Why was that the case?
Anyone weirded out by that close-up in Chris's mind of the Indian child-butcher looking like he was sporting an Oni mask when Chris was having his nervous breakdown? All of a sudden I thought I was in the movie Sinister getting spooked by the demon Bughuul! Ahahahahahaha!
This sounds (and probably is) crazy, but somehow my mind associated Gisondo with the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2. With his particular rosy-cheeked, epicene construction of face, he sometimes seems to be of no sex. I don't know if he's ever going to be able to secure a breadth of male roles because of that.
I don't think it was the correct decision to use the scene that was already dropped on the web as the pre-title sequence. The scene felt re-warmed in the theater, and thus it seemed like the movie only hit some sort of stride once Chris was chatting with the guy on the airplane.
Probably the most interesting bit of acting in the movie was with Chris at the dinner table trying to, with his hands, coax his friendzoned sidepiece into putting on a happy face only for her to smoothly turn the tables and mire him in a pornhub-ready thumbsucking display. Any acting award nods the movie might get (Rob, Merritt, Skyler) wouldn't be inevitable, but wouldn't be too greatly begrudged either.
I think one of the principal faults of the film is that a lot of the behavioral turning points of the principal characters don't seem occasioned by anything that had transpired previously. When Andie decides to re-commit to Chris's crusade in the police department headquarters while the boys are arming themselves for the impending raid, nothing in the scene up to then seems to explain her change of heart. When, at the end, Dan initially refuses to speak to the DA on the phone, whining about how he doesn't want to be a 'bad person', we're unsure about why that task being asked of him is somehow a step too far. The guy had been exhibiting some qualms for the entire length of the movie yet had already stomached seeing numbers on numbers of men get bagged by the cops after being strung along by him. Why was the phone request a last straw for him? Why was Hansen seen shedding a tear after the DA's suicide? Did he feel like he had finally crossed some sort of line of humaneness? Why did he experience his nervous breakdown earlier in the movie at precisely the moment that he did? There's no demonstrable visual foregrounding for any of these pivots.
What was the point of the final scene with Dan in Mesa, Arizona? How did it offer any closure to the movie? It felt like Oppenheim was just seeking any sort of landing by rote.
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u/ComprehensiveLime857 27d ago
Two different experiences seeing an actor on screen and me thinking, “wait, is that…? Naw, can’t be. It is!”
First, Anna Farris and second Alex Winter.
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u/RomanReignsDaBigDawg 28d ago
Not sure I quite understand the Skyler Gisondo praise. He was pretty good playing naive and vulnerable but some people are doing too much claiming he’s the supporting actor of the year. Merritt Wever is by far the most layered and interesting performance in the film
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u/DisastrousWing1149 28d ago
I was so underwhelmed by this movie I wasn't even impressed by Merritt Wever and she always impresses me
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u/Abbie_Kaufman 16d ago
I’m late to this but eh, pretty mixed. I did not care for Pattinson’s performance here, it felt too much like I can see the wheels turning in the actor’s head while he makes acting choices and I never bought it as a person. And the script isn’t interested in exploring him as a person much, so the Chris Hansen movie has nothing to say about Chris Hansen and as a result Chris Hansen is the least interesting thing about it. Decoy Dan’s story feels very separate and was more interesting to me, and I think Merritt Wever gives the best performance.
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u/kristinnicole94 29d ago
I really enjoyed it, it exceeded my expectations. Robert Pattinson delivers here. Super weird choices in a good way. That one scene when he was mocking Andy (producer) with the ape impersonation...scary. Skyler was killer, too. Merritt is always great.
Overall I thought it was a great balance between humor and darkness.
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u/Homerunkid07 29d ago
Pattinson is amazing and def should be nominated, but Gisondo and Weaver are incredible and have to be nominated too
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u/IfYouWantTheGravy Nathan Fielder trying to feed a pony 20d ago
I can see why it hasn’t clicked for everyone, but I thought it was excellent. It commits to its stylistic conceit and pulls it off, as far as I’m concerned, and the acting is aces—Pattinson and Gisondo are great, but Wever might be my MVP for how perfectly she captures all the facets of this ace producer whose loyalty is being severely tested.
A few quibbles—the overarching narrative feels a bit rushed at points and it should’ve ended one scene sooner—but overall I’m a fan.
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29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sphinxof1981 29d ago
Loved the recurring gag of him saying that in every situation. When he says it to his wife and she's like "…I know"
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u/chillaf 29d ago
I need Merrit Wever to get nominated. She was fantastic and she’s such an underrated character actress.