User reviews

Gordon Liddy was a certified psychopath, willing to kill journalists and break the law in the name of patriotism, and yet even after being hired to, and then convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping, upon being released from jail, his views made him a hero to millions as a demagogue radio show host. For decades, he was living proof of the power of progranda-style language to fire up the fear and loathing hidden in people's minds, allowing listeners to overlook the tiny detail that they were listening and being influenced by a psychopath.

This satirical TV show on one of Liddy's more well-known bungles is funny and educational. But ultimately its real value will hopefully be to give insight and awareness to the particular younger generations whose parents and grandparents got sucked into believing the fear-based rhetoric that came out of Giddy's radio show for decades.

Films based on true stories are often more fascinating, and in this case, bizarre and hilarious.

The two main characters are in many ways opposites but contrive to reluctantly work together in order to serve their respective sense of egotistical self importance, their greed, and their stupid mission to save the President.

The impression that their families convey is one of relative normality in spite of the weird behaviours of the 'plumbers'.

White House staffers and CIA, FBI too appear to be quite reasonable right wingers and far less extreme.

That clears the stage for the comedic antics of the undynamic duo!

I was expecting a serious take on Watergate. However I am not disappointed that it is a satirical look at what happened. I don't know about E. Howard Hunt. But I always thought G Gordon Liddy was a buffoon. And a psycho. (I read his book). So I am enjoying Justin's take on him. I was 19 years old when the hearings were happening. A cousin of mine who was in college at the time was very into it. Only later when the books started coming out did I start paying attention to what happened. Yes I would have preferred a serious series. But I am enjoying this. Not crazy about the person playing of Howard Dean.

White House Plumbers is a five part HBO mini-series based on the actual historical events when Nikon's own saboteurs got caught during Watergate Scandel. E. Howard Hunt who is played by Woody Harrelson and G. Gordon Libby played by Justin Theroux are former FBI agents who are hired by Nixon to break-in to Watergate to steal or to overhear the Democratic parties strategies. Unfortunately they were unprofessional and careless undercover operatives that got caught in the act. The series was more comedic and a historical piece than anything else. Lena Headley acted as Woody's wife who was a former operative herself, unfortunately she ends up dying in a plane crash which might or might not have been cohorts by the FBI. Judy Greer played Justin's stay at home to help raise there five kids. Although they were implicated and indicted for over 20 years they served less than 5 years in minimum federal security prison. Kim Coates, Tony Plana, F. Murray Abraham were the Cuban individuals who were hired to break in, I never knew they failed twice to get into the hotel. The story started out slow but it was a good piece, I could definitely see Justin and Woody being nominated for their roles.

White House Plumbers was nothing like I expected. I thought it was going to be just another show on Watergate, Nixon and how everything went down. There is no doubt that Watergate is one of the biggest presidential scandals in United States history and led to the embarrassing resignation of Nixon. That's what I thought this show was going to be about and it is, but it's so much more. It's absolutely hilarious. This is shown from the perspective of E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux) and how ridiculously comical their attempts at Watergate were. Both Harrelson and Theroux were so good in this that they were nominated for several awards for their performances. The only negative was it's only five episodes long, I could've watched this a lot longer.

All historians remember the times of the early 70's and the scandal plagued Nixon administration and anybody knows, you don't have to be a history student to know about Watergate as the incident has long been dissected all thru pop culture. This new "HBO" 5 part miniseries called "White House Plumbers" takes a dark hearted comedic like look at the guys who worked behind the scenes in a clumsy and crazy like way in the Watergate break in. Justin Theroux and Woody Harrelson have good on screen chemistry as Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy both former CIA and FBI agents respectively who's trying to help the president would ultimately break down the Nixon administration. Overall watching with the scenes and the clothing and hairstyles and dialogue it feels very early 70's as you watch the tag team duo turn clownish for the President. It's really funny with drama to watch how the break ins were botched, as dirty little tricks backfire. All of this really wasn't necessary still both Hunt and Liddy are determined Kool aid drinkers for Nixon, as you the viewer feel in company of a madmen like tag team. Overall pretty good historical parody of the 70's "Watergate" scandal that any political historical buff should watch.

Historical accuracy: 9

Acting: 8 Camera work: 8 Editing: 8 Budget: 8 Story: 9 Theme: 9 Pure entertainment factor: 8 Video quality: 8 Special effects: NA Pacing: 8 Suspension of disbelief: 8 Non-cringe factor: 7 Lack of flashbacks: 10

This is a way better intro to the story than any documentary. And let's be clear there have been a ton of documentaries on this case so we all have seen this story many times over. I would still recommend this as the intro to watch. The Martin Sheen TV series is much harder to find and other stuff is not following the main men involved. This is also 100 times better than the Oliver Stone Nixon movie. Overall it's just a clear and concise intro to the case with top tier acting and an amazing focus on history.

I just watched a 1994 BBC documentary about this case. And there was a scene here where Liddy was trying to shoot out a lamp on the street to cover their break-in in darkness. Well, in the documentary he and the other people interviewed said he sat on the shoulders of someone else while doing this. A comedic scene. Now, it could have been easy to just look past such miniscule details and just film the scene fast. 99% of movies and TV shows would not bother with such small details when they are busy changing names and events anyhow. And often you avoid these scenes as they look unrealistic to the audience so you avoid them as much as possible. Yet here they showed this event carefully and made sure to stretch it out and add other details to it. If you know about such details you will adore this TV show for being this realistic. Everything we see here happened as shown, more or less. This is what you get in a comedic TV series that can afford to show what really happened without being afraid of losing the viewer.

Now, some viewers complain about the comedy aspect. It's actually not a comedy. They do ham it up. But this is 1970's USA. This was how people acted and how these fools acted. Watch any interview with the people in charge. This is exactly who they were. They were comedic clowns ready to do anything for the president they loved because they saw themselves as super spies who could do no wrong. In reality they were low IQ fools playing James Bond as many men in secret agencies do. Exactly as depicted. Even if this was filmed with a serious tone this would be how they acted. The events themselves show this. Many historical movies try to stay clear of humor. But in ANY group of men humor is the main element and that was always the case historically. The show does fail at comedy even though plenty of scenes are quite funny. But the energy created from this is amazing. I really adore this style of filmmaking. It's not fully realistic, but it's very close. Reminds me a bit of Indiana Jones. Everything feels real yet it's played up for entertainment.

The character motivations are top notch. You clearly know what everyone wants and scenes build up themes to show us why everyone does what they do. It's absolutely amazing writing. Never on the nose, but as close as you can get to it even setting scenes up in an order that ties all motivations together into a thematic storyline. I like this so much. I would never recommend a movie over a clear documentary when trying to understand history. Until now that is. Now, could it be better? I have not watched some of the other TV shows and will get to them. And maybe they do other stuff well. But this comes with high energy perfect for the modern audience. And you can see how good writers can tie a show together unlike in movies where it's often the director trying to write too like in Wonder Woman 1984 that was a horrible mess. This is a product made by people who enjoy history for people who adore history. This is for you. This really did happen this way.

Now, for the history part. They do mention the JFK shooting quite a bit, setting up a conspiracy theory. In real life a photo from the JFK shooting showed cops escorting 3 vagabonds away from the crime scene and all 3 were said to be 3 of the main Watergate guys. This was a theory presented in big TV shows and papers. But it was later shown that this conspiracy was totally false. But this mini series never says this outright so it's fine. They just allude to it. There are also some misses. Like John Dean shown as a main man behind the conspiracy who then was the first to fold in return for no prison time. Then we see him get famous and rich here. Well, they all got rich when they sold their stories. This is a gigantic story and book deals earn such people millions. A story like this could earn them tens of millions today in book and TV show deals, easily. And media money would never ever run out. They only show John Dean getting there which is false. Also, the prosecutors found a loophole in the deal with him and he did go to prison. I get why he's the bad guy here as the TV show wanted someone evil for the story to make our guys look kinda good in comparison. But he was actually one of the more honorable guys in this story compared to the rest. Also, the plane crash in the series is great. But again they add conspiracy theories to it too. Overall it tries to create extra stories this way. But since we follow fools we know much of what they say is just not true hence I rate it historically accurate. There are also wrong scenes like when John Dean said it felt like Nixon was recording him. Here the prisoners watching him on TV all right away assume Nixon must be recording everything and freak out. This is bad logic. The comment was a short comment the prosecutors didn't ask into. A short comment in a very long testimony. Later with more people making deals it was revealed Nixon did record himself in the White House. But this small comment absolutely would not show this whatsoever. It would at most show Nixon recorded John Dean in that instance to create a fall guy, nothing else. And no one watching it would assume otherwise. Only a few people knew about the tapes. Actually, statements like that made John Dean go to prison because many statements were loose assumptions that were shown to be false as we learned the true facts from the recordings. But the TV show has to tighten up the story this way. It's a shame as the tapes only get like 2 min of screentime. The last episode rushes past the tape reveal and then never gets to book deals either. Kinda stays in this small space.

Pretty much the only thing you can say about HBO's White House Plumbers is 'very nice try but no cigar'. Frankly, it's difficult to put your finger on what doesn't quite work and why, but something doesn't quite work.

It has great talent in the main roles, and it sticks closely to the - ridiculous and almost unbelievable - truth of how useless Hunt and Liddy's operation was on behalf of trying to get Richard Nixon re-elected as US president, but somehow it has some kind of ingredient X missing.

It might well be that White House Plumbers can't quite make up its mind what it is or what it wants to be: is it a satire? Is it just simple comedy? Is it a semi-factual attempt at portraying the cast of bozos hired to get President Nixon re-elected? It has elements of all those, but is too much of a mish-mash to be clear about any of it.

For example, one interesting theme which is alluded to and might have had traction is Howard Hunt's family life: in White House Plumbers he is shown as a guy who had a reasonable track record with the CIA, and though we are given the impression he did not leave the service on the best of terms he is no dumbo - Liddy is the nutjob and Hunt is forever reining him in.

Yet Hunt's home life adds a completely different dimension to the man: at home he is somehow cut down to size, by his eminently sensible wife, by his second oldest daughter and a long-haired son who are the kind of 'counter-culture' youngsters Hunt is battling.

In sum, Hunt might like to see himself as a man of consequence in the outside world, but at home not quite as much.

Yet, this theme is not developed as it might have been and which would have given the series more bottom: it is just one of several strands of which none ends up being the guiding theme.

Liddy is portrayed pretty much as a caricature, but how much of a cartoon figure was he in real life? Wed don't know. It other protagonists whose names we might all recall from the Watergate hearings - Johns Dean, Jeb Magruder, Chuck Colson, John Mitchell - also get a look in, but are oddly peripheral. This series is almost exclusively about Hunt and Liddy.

Overall, I have to say, White House Plumbers is entertaining enough but really little more than an opportunity lost. It does pick up after the first two episodes, but not enough to give it real legs. As I say, nice try but no cigar.

My brother and I watch a lot of tv and then review it so even though this came out last summer we just now finally got around to watching White House Plumbers and were very entertained by it. So much so that we binged all 5 episodes over a weekend. Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are absolutely brilliant in this political satire on one of the most famous events in American history. HBO is known for putting out the best quality tv there is and White House Plumbers is another home run from them. Even though there is a lot of satire in this, they never stray from the facts of what actually happened. You won't find anything that you didn't already know about Watergate but I promise you've never seen it from this point of view. I promise you'll laugh mo matter what political party you support. At only five episodes long, it's definitely worth your time.

Started with great promise in what is an historical interesting debacle of American Political dastardly behaviour. The two lead actors are okay but seem to be playing it all for cheap laughs. Guess it's not their fault, but the writing and direction. Don't know if it's just me, but Justin Theroux who is normally quite good, seems to overact in this. Way over done. Sometime the subtle route is best and the black comedy and absurdity of the whole situation would have spoken for itself, but anyway...

Starting to watch UK and French movies as the US seem to be churning out a lot of over the top, overacted and very average movies and series. This, And The last thing he told me was terrible and are a case in point. But then an excellent show like High Dessert appears, but that's another story...

Interested in the story, but the comedy/deliveries are flat/phoney. It seems to want to have a slick Guy Ritchie or Oceans 11 tone, but the filmmaking is not up to the task.

It's just all wide angle lenses, feels cheap most of the time. Disappointed since HBO generally meant higher quality or at least more competent execution. The story is what I am interested in, but the filmmaking is really not great.

I am going to stick with it, but I have little hope that it will improve. Really wish it was more grounded or had a stronger comedic voice with better writing.

The story is fascinating and hope having lower expectations for it will help.

Some reviewers have claimed this film is redundant, but I don't think I have seen a depiction of the "plumbers" (the White House code for the actual culprits of the Watergate Hotel offices of the 1972 Democratic National Committee break-in) in anything like this detail. But like many miniseries that stretch over many hours, the show experiments with broad changes in style; here we have willy-nilly shifts from family melodrama to broad-stroke satire. I think the series would be stronger if it committed to satire. The actor who seems to get it is Justin Theroux, whose Liddy is close to spot-on as an imitation (one only has to watch interviews with him) but has an added Tabasco-like zing of amplified absurdity that lifts the performance into a larger comment on the history of paranoiac conservatism at that time. Hunt, meanwhile, was a fascinating, flawed figure in reality. Watergate was not the first comedy of errors for this figure with delusions of spy grandeur. His obituary in the New York Times characterizes him as at once "intelligent, erudite, suave" yet was also described by Samuel F. Hart, a retired United States ambassador who first met him in Uruguay in the 1950s, as "totally self-absorbed, totally amoral and a danger to himself and anybody around him." This character is ripe for an understated, slow-burning satire. Instead, we have Woody Harrelson as Hunt, and he transforms the demur, deluded New York State native (and Brown U graduate) into what appears to be a frantic, flustered, renegade Texan (?! Huh?) who often shifts into one of Harrelson's oddest acting clichés: simultaneously clinching and jutting his lower jaw and trying to shout through the resultant mask, like Foghorn Leghorn with a muzzle. This schtick would be dialed back as "too hokey" in a community theater version of this script. "White House Plumbers" is worth seeing for its take on history, and especially for Theorux's great turn as Liddy--he knows how to balance satire and straight documentary styles--but on the whole, the incoherent tonal oscillations between melodrama (especially in the Hunt house) and satire, and Harrelson's unbelievably tense, histrionic rendering of Hunt, utterly unlike the man himself (observe him in the Watergate hearings, e.g.) debase the promise of this take on the Watergate burglary.

Whilst I saw all 5 episodes out, I was a bit disappointed. That's not to say it's bad, if just didn't live up to expectations.

Acting was fine, storyline somewhat embellished etc so there's no real knock on it.

It doesn't get bogged down either. So can't really say anything negative about it, other than it was somewhat politically biased, but not enough to turn it off.

Storyline was written by way of inept former CIA agents trying to stay employed who came up with a number of schemes in the lead up to the election and got the green light for the only totally non insane plan to bug the opposition.

Worth a watch, just don't expect too much.

I started watching this series for nostalgic 70's cultural and historical references. But I was quickly hooked on the satiric brilliance of Theroux and Harrelson portraying the Keystone Cops comedic element of the bungling undercover operatives of the Nixon administration. The portrayal of the Liddy's and Hunt's domestic complications works well, too. Their wives/kids play into the cultural zeitgeist of the time, nicely framing the unhinged nature of the "'plumbers' " mission as being detrimental to their families. But the highlight for me has to be Theroux's pitch perfect portrayal of Liddy's pomposity.

The historical context of the series is interesting. The style chosen is also exceptional. This chosen exceptional style is one of the strengths of the series, but ultimately also one of its weaknesses. The humorous approach could have worked, but perhaps I would have preferred a more serious approach to such an interesting subject. There could have been humour in the series, but now the humour became purpose in itself. Humour could have been a by-product, not the purpose of the series itself. I was also disturbed by Woody Harrellson's overacting. Or perhaps more so his overstated way of speaking. All in all, though, the series was entertaining, but ultimately a "dozen production" that left no lasting impression.

I liked it because it makes Republicans look like the clowns that they are. Perhaps too much like two dimensional cartoonish characters at times. However, the show doesn't take itself seriously enough for you to care about that imo. I don't know how true to the real events it is but it seemed to make a pretty good effort on the things I am aware of. At first I was not impressed with how the characters were just too dumb to be believable. After awhile their idiocy kind of started to work somehow. Maybe they really were that dumb but who knows. I didn't think they needed to try slip in a JFK conspiracy as they they already had more than enough material to work with on Watergate.

I, a non-American with a shaky grasp on political history, had gleaned the basics on Watergate from this and that article over the years. If you are looking to learn more about the scandal through this series, your odds aren't great. The show expects you to know what's what, and cracks jokes on top of things it doesn't take the time to explain. Not a bad thing per se, just doesn't seem geared towards your casual non-American viewer, in that it's way too busy being a satire to spell out every little thing it holds up to ridicule. It can and will feel disorienting, befuddling, and mercilessly paced where your knowledge about the events falters.

The script is quite clever. Whatever jokes did land on my side of the fence got me chuckling. The cast is rather hysterical, with Justin Theroux being the standout. The story of Dorothy Hunt feels like a much-needed emotional anchor in a show that is easily distracted by retro glitz and succumbs to comedy every other scene.

Overall, it was watchable, though I assume it would fare better with someone who knows their history. Binge-watched it with some pals and half of them were gone after two episodes because they couldn't digest the plot, couldn't laugh along with the jokes, couldn't get invested in characters whose motivations are vastly told through the above.

I couldn't make it through the first episode. A couple of baffoons with terrible stories and even though I love the actors, they just couldn't sell me in the first episode on wanting to watch more, let alone finish the series.

I long for the days when a series like this would start off with the biggest story and the best dialogue and twists to keep the viewers attention. It seems anymore that the MO has changed to letting the first few episodes suck and then building into a story because after all, we're paying for these streaming services so I guess we should waste our time and give the new shows time to form up. Well I have no time for that model.

Yes, Watergate was the crime of the century (until the recent TRE45ON trumped it) - but casting Hunt and Liddy as clandestine keystone cops (think of Peter Falk in the In-Laws or Kevin Klein in A Fish Called Wanda) was an unexpected delight.

I half expected a mini series in the vein of all the president's men - but this was straight comedy, and it is comedy gold. Yes, a bit over the top. But unapologetically. If you are looking for historical drama, Redford and Hoffman are still your best bet. But if you need political comic relief to take your mind off of real-world political stress, it's five hours well spent.

I was hoping for a serious look at one of the most egregious political crimes of the last century. Instead I got an over-scripted, overacted, live-action cartoon with a completely off putting "Get Smart" feel to it.

Had I had my wits about me, the makeup job on Liddy's character alone would have been a dead giveaway not to bother, but I ignored the warning. I don't care how "true-to-life" the directors might claim his jet black hair and pasted on mustache are... the look they created is absolutely freakish and I felt hoodwinked.

In my view this is the wrong topic for a spoof.... I wasn't looking for tasteless laughs and couldn't stomach even one episode.

I'm tuning in now on HBO Max to All The President's Men and plan to enjoy not being insulted.

It's entertaining enough and it's reasonably faithful in its depiction of historical events. But I can't rate it higher than 6/10 because of the bizarre inconsistency in the characterizations of the two leads. On the one hand Justin Theroux's G. Gordon Liddy is a hyperbolic caricature of a bumbling, pompous fanatic. Most of the show's overt comedy comes from Liddy. On the other hand Woody Harrelson's E. Howard Hunt is a much more grounded and tragic figure whose greed, hubris and consistently bad decisions ultimately ruin him. It's as if the director told Theroux they were making a slapstick comedy and told Harrelson they were making a political and family drama and then turned them both loose without any idea of what the other was doing.

As Episode 1 of "White House Plumbers" (2023 release; 5 episodes ranging between 46 and 64 min each) opens, we are at the "Watergate Office Building", where a group of men are trying to break into the DNC offices, but fail due to having the wrong tools. We are informed this was the second failed break-in attempt, and not the last one. We then go to "A Year Earlier" as we are introduced to Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy, political operatives and all-around hacks doing Nixon's dirty work leading up to the 1972 presidential elections. At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from producer-director David Mandel ("Veep"). Here he looks back at how the Watergate gang came about, starting with ex-FBI wacko Howard Hunt and Hitler-loving Gordon Libby. The brazenness and ultimately sheer stupidity of these guys knows no boundaries, as this mini-series amply showcases. Much of it is shown tongue-in-cheek, and the lead performances by Woody Harrelson (as Hunt) and Justin Theroux (as Liddy) fit in perfectly. Yest despite all that, I found the overall mini-series less than the total sum of its parts, perhaps because it was all so obvious. In the end, this is pleasant divertissement, rather than, say a serious look at these events (such as "All The President's Men").

"White House Plumbers" premiered on then-HBO and HBO Max in early May, but for some reason I just now caught up with it. If you are in the mood for a politically-inspired mini-series (if not satire) set in the early 70s, I'd readily suggest you check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

If you were to suggest a satirical, over-the-top portrayal of the Watergate scandal I'd have sent you back to the writer's room to try again.

It all works. I haven't laughed out loud this much in many years.

Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are astoundingly banal and crazed. Their portrayals of Hunt and Liddy are fantastic. The acting is good throughout although, perhaps, Lena Headey tries a little too hard but that's understandable with Harrelson and Theroux laying it on thick.

All the minor characters from the Cubans to the White House staff, to the family members nailed it. I believed all of them despite the underlying craziness of the concept.

I understand the bad reviews. Either because someone was offended by A: Satirical take on a serious subject or B: The abject stupidity of the Republican operatives. That being said, I loved it and I'm glad I'm not alone.

The final confrontation between Hunt and Liddy in the jail cell was riveting.

Great show if people can get over their biases on the subject. Highly recommend.

White House Plumbers does a lot of things right. Unfortunately, I think it was a very clever idea that was simply executed by the wrong people. The type of humor they are going for feels like they are trying to emulate the dark humor method of the Coen brothers' films. Sadly Alex Gregory & Peter Huyck are no Joel & Ethan Coen. I have no doubt that if this series had been created by the Coens and directed by Steven Soderbergh then it would have been much more of a critical darling. The whole time I was watching it felt like that was exactly the style they were trying to pull off and they just weren't talented enough to make it work. I mostly enjoyed the series because I'm fascinated by the premise and it has an excellent cast. I just wish it had been placed in the hands of a creative team that was more suited for the style they were trying to copy. There would have been no shame in just being the ones with the idea. As it is this is a decent series that will quickly be forgotten after you watch rather than sticking with you.