One day before release, Robert Pattinson’s 'Primetime' tops 80% on Rotten Tomatoes

One day out from its U.S. bow, Primetime is sitting at an 89% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes from 98 reviews, a surge powered by its Venice premiere and weeks of chatter about Robert Pattinson transforming into TV figure Chris Hansen. Early write-ups keep zeroing in on Lance Oppenheim’s aggressive visual choices and a lead turn that pushes Pattinson into prickly, uncomfortable territory.

Primetime is at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes from 98 reviews the day before its September 25 theatrical release.

Directed by Oppenheim in his narrative-feature debut, the drama reimagines the rise of Hansen’s controversial NBC segment To Catch a Predator , with Pattinson playing the host as the show becomes a ratings force. The film widens its lens beyond the sting operations themselves, picking apart how TV manufactures spectacle, how fame feeds on it, and why audiences tune in to real-life wrongdoing as entertainment.

Pattinson’s performance has been the headline, but the broader critical consensus points to the movie ’s nerve: it’s a media story that refuses to play nice, and the actor leans into that unease rather than smoothing it over.

Pattinson’s scorecard

While Primetime’s pre-release number is strong, it isn’t the highest Tomatometer entry tied to Pattinson’s name. His recent track record shows how wide he now swings between bold indies and big studio worlds.

• The Boy and the Heron (voice of the Gray Heron) — 96%
• Good Time — 91%
• The Lighthouse — 90%

That turn to stranger, riskier projects has been building since the post-Twilight pivot, with stops in Cosmopolis, The Rover, Good Time, The Lighthouse and, on the blockbuster side, The Batman . Primetime lands squarely in the first camp—and arrives with the kind of reviews that make a film feel like an event before the first showtime.

Primetime opens in theaters on September 25.