In the early 2000s, “To Catch a Predator” captivated reality-show audiences with a legendary ritual: A dumpy online seducer walks into a house, eagerly awaiting a nubile adolescent. He’s surprised and interrogated by stern, calm news host Chris Hansen. Fleeing the scene, he’s quickly collared by cops waiting outside.
Everybody, it would seem, hates a child molester. But was the show a legitimate tool against child sex criminals or was it a sadistic blurring of the line between entertainment and law enforcement?
This documentary chews over that question, and is absorbing, even if there’s no particular new insights. In the first of three phases, the film looks at the original series, which crashed after a cornered suspect shot himself.
The second part feels like a detour—a look at an imitation YouTube show with low-budget vigilantes who can be comically inept.
Finally, the film focuses on Chris Hansen, still in business with a new version of “Predator." For a change, Hansen is questioned by documentary director David Osit.
Osit discloses that he was a victim of childhood abuse. And to his credit, he briefly notes that his own film might be exploiting a sensational topic and our desire to see people in the hot seat.
On the KPCW sun rating system, "Predators" receives three out of five suns.
