Roush Review: ‘White House Plumbers’ Are Watergate Bumblers in an Overwrought Tragicomedy

White House Plumbers

Matt's Rating:

Think All the President’s Idiots.

Turning the Watergate scandal into a slapstick tragicomedy isn’t nearly as novel a notion as White House Plumbers, HBO’s cartoonishly acted five-part docu-dramedy, seems to think it is. (If you want to see a superior take on the story, check out last year’s entertainingly riveting Starz miniseries Gaslit, which takes a wider view of the intrigues with a focus on colorful whistleblower Martha Mitchell, played by Julia Roberts.)

This latest retelling zooms in on the chief bumblers — er, “plumbers” — who orchestrated the botched break-in that took down the 1970s Nixon administration: E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux). These former and very aggrieved CIA and FBI agents, respectively, see themselves as democracy’s champions during Nixon’s re-election campaign when they’re hired to oversee the plotting of dirty tricks that invariably backfire.

“Is any of this nickel-and-dime cloak and dagger stuff necessary?” wonders Hunt’s wife, Dorothy (Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey in the series’ best performance), herself a former CIA agent. The answer is no. But try telling these clowns, who view their antics as a way back into positions of respected authority. As if.

Harrelson paints Hunt as a one-note rage monster, a walking ulcer who leads with his jutting chin, while Theroux retreats within the oily psychosis of a perverse Nazi enthusiast. (As Liddy’s inanely loyal wife, the usually spot-on Judy Greer feels miscast.) This Mutt and Jeff team boils down to a mad man who can barely tolerate the madman whose grandiose schemes make them both a laughingstock — until no one is laughing.

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I know I wasn’t. This tale of political chicanery is framed as a cautionary tale of toxic machismo and swollen ego, with Hunt, having lost everything, ultimately concluding, “All I have left is regret.”

Having spent five hours in their company, I know how he feels.

White House Plumbers, Limited Series Premiere, Monday, May 1, 9/8c, HBO