White House Plumbers

Numerous films have been made about the Watergate scandal with All The President’s Men, Frost/Nixon, The Post, and the Starz limited series Gaslit tackling this story from different angles. However, no film or television show has explored the perspective of the men involved in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters until White House Plumbers.

Over the course of five episodes, director David Mandel and the writing team of Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck (all of whom worked together on Veep) tell the story of Watergate masterminds and Nixon loyalists, E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux), as they unknowingly destroy a presidency they meant to protect. Consistent in its scathing and funny satirical edge, the series also never wants its audience to celebrate these men's actions. Instead, the filmmakers attempt to deconstruct why people were so paranoid during this era.

Many political agents and public figures spent the ’70s looking over their shoulders, and the government coaxed society at large to always be fearful of Cold War enemies or the government itself. Such a tense paranoia is effectively conveyed in Theroux’s and Harrelson’s lead performances.

Liddy and Hunt consider themselves to be family men with their country's best interests at heart, but that loyalty to their country is merely a twisted obsession, with political power as both men’s ultimate goals. And the actors portraying them convey those toxic values in distinct ways. 

Hunt wants to gain respect and status as a CIA officer that will then elevate his wife Dorothy (Lena Headey), their sons John (Liam James) and David (Tre Ryder), and daughters Jane (Zoe Levin) and Kevan (Kiernan Shipka). What starts as an honest intention turns into Hunt looking for approval from the Nixon administration, and Harrelson neatly balances this duality in an engaging and darkly humorous manner. Hunt does some detestable things in the series but has the charm of a sleazy car salesman, and Harrelson’s slippery performance provides a clever counter-balance to that of his co-star.

Theroux’s portrayal of Liddy toes a crafty line. The character is equal parts a cartoon and an eerily realistic government disciple whose undying loyalty to the Nixon administration is scary yet entertaining. Theroux’s willingness to deliver Liddy’s broad character traits is hilarious to watch, and his banter with any character (especially Hunt) gives the series some of its biggest laughs. These performances are so strong, developed, and receive such significant screen-time, however, that they detract from White House Plumbers’ cavalcade of supporting parts.

Actors like Headey, Judy Greer as Fran Liddy, John Carroll Lynch as John Mitchell, Domnhall Gleeson as John Dean, and David Krumholtz as William O. Bittman get little to do. Headey fares best, getting some meatier emotional moments in the second half of the series. Otherwise, the rest of the supporting players are granted little more than glorified cameos, and though the actors do what they can with the paltry roles, many of the characters’ rich real-life histories feel cheated by their half-baked treatment.

Thanks to Harrelson’s and Theroux’s consistently funny and engaging performances, White House Plumbers is at times an exuberantly entertaining miniseries. But as tensions surrounding Watergate ratchet up, you can’t help but feel sorry for their characters’ blind ignorance.

Grade: B-plus. Rated TV-MA. Available to stream via Max.

(Photo: Phil Caruso/HBO)