‘Ride or Die’ Review: Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer Amazon Comedy

If you, like me, were disappointed that Hannah Waddingham didn’t get more action during her appearance in the actioniest action franchise of all time, the good news about Amazon’s Ride or Die is that it immediately tries to right that wrong.

In the first five minutes, her Judith stabs a man at a party, escapes on skis and celebrates a job well done by bedding a besotted hottie. Before the hour’s out, she’ll also crash a black-tie gala, fight off henchmen with a frying pan and engage in a high-speed shootout/chase through the streets of London. All of it is executed by Waddingham (and/or her stunt double, Chanique Greyling) with such ferocity that it left me wishing for her to get her own John Wick riff.

The sorta bad news, then, is that as far as action goes, that Peyton Reed-directed premiere is as thrilling as it gets; nothing in the next seven hours will match those scenes for pure excitement. But the other good news is that they have their own delights to offer. Propelled by the powerfully likable chemistry between Waddingham and Octavia Spencer (as Judith’s best friend Debbie), Ride or Die is a lively excursion with a surprisingly sweet heart.

Creator Tessa Coates centers her buddy comedy on two women who are both very, very alike and very, very different. On the one hand, Judith and Debbie share the same taste in music, the same passion for antiquing and the same love for books but not necessarily for book clubs (or at least not for the stuffy book club they both belong to). Best friends for 20 years, they’re so inseparable that Debbie’s politician husband David (a perfectly buffoonish Jamie Parker) refers to Judith, not without some resentment, as “the woman who’s always been there.”

On the other: Debbie is a former lawyer whose main focus these days is helping David climb the ranks. Judith claims to be a forensic accountant, but is actually a career assassin whose very name sends shivers of fear through her enemies and ones of excitement through her admirers. But when a gig goes sideways, Judith is forced to reveal herself to Debbie, and flee with her across Europe.

With law enforcement, the Albanian mob, Judith’s employer (Bill Nighy as the ruthless Director) and a cheerfully unhinged killer (Sylvia Hoeks’ Ana) all in pursuit, Ride or Die offers plenty of opportunities for Judith to punch, kick and shoot her way through obstacles — even if the quality of those scenes drops off after a promising start, and it increasingly starts to feel like the show is going out of its way to avoid the sort of hand-to-hand combat that dazzled early on.

Ride or Die‘s true appeal is as a comedy, though, and there its payoffs are much more consistent, thanks to a likable and game ensemble. Ed Skrein is one highlight as Billy, a flirtatious mark who seems more amused than upset to find himself in Judith’s crosshairs; Jackie Ido is another as Jacques, a straitlaced and soft-spoken Interpol agent who develops a soft spot for Debbie in spite of himself. An endearingly dorky Calam Lynch, an appealingly sturdy Cathy Tyson and a playful Savannah Steyn round out the core cast as members of Judith’s support team. It’s just fun to spend time with this crew, whether they’re gossiping about Debbie’s love life or bickering over Lord of the Rings trivia.

But the beating heart of this whole operation remains, of course, the women. Both stars are terrific. As much as Ride or Die makes the case for Waddingham as an action hero, it also allows her to show the aching vulnerability buried underneath that steely exterior. For the physical punishment Judith endures, she never looks more wounded than when Debbie’s expressing (justified) horror over her chosen profession and fury at having been deceived about it.

Spencer’s is the less flashy of the two lead roles, in that it requires a lot less of her zipping around on motorcycles or growling deadly threats. But it’s no less carefully considered or acted. If Judith’s job gives the series its thrills, Spencer’s perfectly pitched reactions ground those twists in real feeling. Refreshingly, the script does not treat Judith as a hapless civilian but as the more emotionally resilient of the pair, and a formidable figure in her own right — invaluable for the people skills she’d previously applied to getting David elected and the problem-solving abilities she’s honed by reading many, many crime novels.

Ride or Die’s scope is too small to build out much of its universe beyond the elements that directly affect Judith and Debbie, much less to suggest save-the-world stakes à la Mission: Impossible or Jack Ryan. But it doesn’t really need to, or at least not yet. The bond between Judith and Debbie feels solid enough that you buy they’d go full Thelma & Louise for each other if they had to, and charming enough that you’d care if they did.

The fact that they’re both “WOACAs” — a hilariously misguided attempt to soften the phrase “women of a certain age” — is not incidental, but key to our investment. This is a relationship that’s endured long enough to become a foundational element of both their self-identities, and that’s coming under fire just as they creep toward midlife crisis.

So compelling is their connection that it helps gloss over some of the show’s flaws, which include an overly complicated plot (I regularly forgot who was chasing whom and for what specific purpose) and at least a couple plot reveals so creaky that Debbie would’ve rolled her eyes if she’d come across them in a book club selection. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t occur to me at some slightly saggy point in the middle of the season that this premise might have been more efficiently served as a two-hour feature film, in the vein of Spy or The Heat.

I’d also be lying, however, if I said I regretted the extra time to savor the delight that Debbie and Judith take in one another, or to drink in the unlikely chemistries that spring up between their various friends and enemies. In any case, as their journey reminds us, someone (or in this case something) needn’t be perfect to be worthy of our affections. So maybe Ride or Die isn’t quite singular enough to inspire the kind of devotion referenced in its title. But it’s more than winning enough to follow to the end of this adventure, at least, and perhaps on to the next.