HBO's The Swamp is essentially "The Matt Gaetz Show," for better or for worse

The Hollywood Reporter

The documentary from filmmakers Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme sets out to focus on a trio of Republican congressmen: Florida's headline-grabbing Gaetz, Kentucky's Thomas Massie and Colorado's Ken Buck in the aftermath of the 2018 "blue wave." "But Matt Gaetz is the main lure, and I'm pretty sure that's just the way he would want it," says Daniel Fienberg. "A master of viral-means-good self-promotion, Gaetz is a jumble of contradictions. He can sit with Khanna and boast at their similar independent streaks when it comes to things like term limits or gerrymandering, and then engage in his apparently frequent conversations with Trump that conclude with ejaculations like, 'You're the best, Mr. President!' It's Gaetz's status as a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mid-priced suit that clearly transfixes the filmmakers, who are constantly trying to trip him up with not-especially-challenging questions like, 'If Donald Trump employs more lobbyists than any past president, has he really drained any swamp?'" ALSO: The Swamp is watchable mainly for its willingness to hang around with Gaetz and give him a fair and up-close chance to explain himself as a self-styled iconoclast.