Dir. Lance Oppenheim · 2026 · about 1 h 50 · A24 · in US cinemas now, UK and Ireland from 30 October
It is 2006 and To Catch a Predator is a hit. Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen, the Dateline host whose face the show made famous. When network executives move it into a primetime slot, Hansen and his production team have to raise the stakes to keep the audience, whatever the cost. That is as far as this review goes, and as far as you need to know. The screenplay is by Ajon Singh, the film premiered at Venice, and it is Oppenheim's first narrative feature after documentaries such as Ren Faire.
A word on the subject. The film is built on a real television franchise and a real, living man, and it takes creative liberties with both. Hansen himself has said publicly that he found it bizarre and untrue to his experience, and gave Pattinson's performance a "D" on his own podcast. Keep that in mind when a film this stylised says it is about something true.
Almost everyone agrees on the lead. Pattinson does an uncanny vocal impersonation, with over-rehearsed, television-ready cadences, and plays Hansen as something closer to a horror villain than a crusader.
"the best performance yet from the most intriguing actor of his generation"
Nicholas Barber, BBC (five stars)
The supporting cast gets strong notices too. Variety's Jessica Kiang calls Merritt Wever "absolutely blistering" and praises Phoebe Bridgers' first screen role; The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney calls it a remarkably assured debut, and Skyler Gisondo is singled out by other critics as the film's backbone. The look is the other talking point: it is shot in a boxy 4:3 frame that Kiang describes as a nightmarishly claustrophobic portrait, and IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio finds the satire "bleakly invigorating", whatever its shortcomings as a story.
This is where critics split, and the split is wide. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave it two stars, calling it overwrought and heavy-footed, and unsure of what it wants to say about media or morality. Rooney finds it entertaining in a lurid way but short on insight, while RogerEbert.com's Matt Zoller Seitz, who gave it 3.5 out of 4, enjoys the sleaze Pattinson has been handed. Others note that the energy dips when the script turns to Hansen's home life, and that the film never really turns its camera on the audience that watched the real show. Several critics, Kiang and Lattanzio among them, send viewers to David Osit's 2025 documentary Predators for a fuller account of the events.
Seitz and Barber are warm; James Berardinelli at Reelviews finds it a failure that works as neither drama, thriller nor satire. Where we land is in between: a film with a startling central performance and real style, held back by the thinness of what it has to say.
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Primetime has been in US cinemas since 25 September, and a UK and Ireland cinema release is reported for 30 October. We could not confirm dates for other European countries or a streaming home, and availability varies by country, so check your local cinema listings.
This is a critical reading drawn from published reviews, not a first-hand viewing. We drew on: