Despite being one of the defining shows of its era, largely thanks to my generation's memory of it solely through an ironic lens of memes and YouTube clips, it's surprising to find out that To Catch a Predator only aired twenty episodes, presented as specials from 2004 to 2007. During that time, the show framed itself as being part of the larger corporate television news magazine program Dateline NBC. By placing itself under that umbrella, it made it serious journalism, something that host Chris Hansen vehemently claimed it was. But as seen through the lens of the new film Primetime, the show acted more like a privatized sting operation than a news outlet, favoring ratings over reporting.

By taking us behind the scenes of the show's production, Primetime reveals just how much of it was made up. The online conversations with suspected sexual predators were done by Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), founder of the watchdog group Perverted-Justice. An adult actor, known as a "decoy" because of their physical resemblance to that of a prepubescent teenager, played the child on the phone and in person. The house for the meeting was rented out, with hidden cameras in every room. It has all the makings of a Hollywood production, with producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever) steering the ship from the video village.

In theory, cutting through all that artificiality and lending some integrity should be the hosting duties of Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson), already a winner of multiple News & Documentary Emmy Awards throughout his tenure at Dateline NBC. But when we first meet Hansen, he's performing vocal exercises while reading a prepared script. Possibly sensing how much audiences would be fascinated by Pattonson’s voice work, director Lance Oppenheim lets the actor extensively riff during this preparation phase, and later places him in a recording booth for a commercial spot. Once the predator hits their mark on the metaphorical stage, Chris reveals himself from behind a curtain, a grand entrance fit for a superhero crime fighter. The audience can then cheer as the predator is berated for his misdeeds and physically assaulted by arresting police officers.

“What would have happened if I wasn't there?” is the supposed bulletproof defense that Chris flings at any skeptics of his work. To him, these predators are part of an ancient evil that cannot be tamed or fully understood, just exposed for the world to see. After all, the more light shed on darkness, the less dark it is. But can journalistic integrity be maintained when you’re making the news instead of solely reporting it? Is all this chatroom sleuthing and acting a form of entrapment, meant to parade around the prey in a humiliation ritual? When asked by a (seemingly deranged) fan why Chris doesn’t just kill the predators on the spot, he says that what he does is probably a fate worse than death.

These ethical dilemmas have surrounded the show since it first aired, so screenwriter Ajon Singh isn’t exactly breaking much new ground here. Fortunately, he finds a fresher vantage point through the eyes of Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo), a twenty-something aspiring actor hired to become the new decoy of a thirteen-year-old boy. Without preparation or knowledge of what exactly is going on, he’s thrust into a scene with a predator, given stage instructions on how to get them over to the kitchen for Chris. It’s only after the fact that he grasps that he was performing a “scene” with a real sexual predator. If these people are as dangerous as Chris claims, was Dan unknowingly put in extreme danger?

For as much as Dan is conflicted by all of this, he’s paid quite well and can be easily convinced that there is some form of justice being served. That’s exactly the attitude the NBC executives and audiences take as well, all of it presented with the least amount of professionalism needed to assuage guilt. The age of polished, scripted television is over, replaced by the grungy muck of “reality” television. A documentary filmmaker, Oppenheim takes those aesthetics and applies them to his film. The cinematography is presented with a garish videotape quality, the static so exposed you could feel it coming off the screen if you placed your hand there. Dial-up internet sounds and an unnervingly hilarious placement of Jared Fogle capture the era’s Wild West feel.

Bathed in all that grotesquerie is Pattinson, adding another nutcase character to his ever-expanding collection. He is simultaneously a predator and prey to himself, relentlessly driven to gain bigger ratings than Lost once he’s promoted to a primetime slot. As much of a fool’s errand as that is, it’s something he commits his damnedest to achieve. That means no more small fish, just white whales, which any knowledgeable viewer of To Catch a Predator knows is what sunk the ship. It’s proof that Batman can only exist in comic books, as our world’s view of justice has more in common with that of The Joker.

A24 will release Primetime in theaters nationwide on September 25th.