‘Ride or Die’ Review: Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer Liven Up Amazon’s Generically Fun Action-Comedy

Speaking generally, collectively, and presumptively, here’s what we’ve come to know about Hannah Waddingham — and by “we,” I mean “Americans who started paying attention after ‘Ted Lasso’“: She’s got an incredible voice. She’s quite tall. And she’s an accomplished actor of the stage and screen.

So, naturally, she should play an international assassin in a serialized buddy comedy alongside Oscar winner (and two-time Emmy nominee for Outstanding Narrator), Octavia Spencer.

Frankly, such a leap from the typical restrictions of typecasting is a victory unto itself, even if Amazon executives likely saw her in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” and/or “The Fall Guy,” multiplied by (“Ted Lasso” = TV show), and continued their mysterious studio math until it added up to “Ride or Die,” a conventional action-comedy in which Waddingham plays Judith Burton (codename: Whiptail), a killer-for-hire across every intelligence agency on the planet who also happens to love antiquing, trashy mystery novels, and mocking her best friend’s boring husband.

If the series, created by Tessa Coates and showrun by Matt Miller, isn’t quite as much fun as its leading lady, that’s only because it also asks her to be serious, sad, and a little morbid. Waddingham can stretch to cover the requested emotional range with ease, even when “Ride or Die” cannot, and she helps to make up for recurring tonal challenges. The final few episodes’ excessive melodrama is easily forgiven when what’s good here — above-average fights, solid jokes, and a game cast — isn’t so easy to forget.

As for the plot, well, let’s see what I can remember. Judith starts out living her best life: On assignment at a distant ski resort, she spends her day evading gunfire on the slopes and her nights uncovering a bartender in the sheets. Her mind is sharp. Her attacks are lethal. Her skills are honed. And yet, her boss (Bill Nighy) thinks she’s taking too many risks for a “WOACA” (woman of a certain age). Suddenly, she’s one slip-up away from early retirement, which is an unwelcome proposition for a lifelong careerist whose only real friend is busy trying to turn her partner into the next Prime Minister of England.

Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Skrein in ‘Ride or Die’Courtesy of Prime Video

Yup, that’s Debbie (Spencer), a Yale Law graduate whose days are dedicated to doing everything her hubby is too dumb to do himself (namely, his entire job) and whose nights are spent calling her kids, hosting book club, and planning for the future. Except — uh oh! — that future is thrown up in the air when David (Jamie Parker) informs Debbie he wants a divorce, right before finding himself in the middle of one of Judith’s hits.

With their established lives in limbo, the besties hit the road hoping to save themselves — and their friendship. Debbie, who always thought Judith was a boring ol’ accountant, doesn’t know if she can trust her best friend in light of discovering her actual (deadly) occupation, nor does she know what to do with herself after devoting so much of her life to a man who didn’t reciprocate her efforts. When it comes to Judith, she’s gone to great lengths to keep Debbie out of harms way over the years. Can she make up with her after all those lies? Can she keep her safe now that she knows the real Whiptail? Even if she can, what will their lives look like when things get back to “normal”?

Pressing danger forces them to stick together, sure, but “Ride or Die” commits its full first season to rebuilding their relationship, leaving legitimate doubts linger far longer than the genre allows for. (This is a buddy comedy. Are we really expected to believe our stars just won’t be buddies anymore?) Still, Waddingham and Spencer sell the drama as convincingly as the comedy, as do helpful hands from Nighy (always a treat), Ed Skrein (as a fellow assassin with a serious crush on Judith), and Calam Lynch (as Judith’s young handler whose loyalties are torn between his agent and his agency).

Pilot director Peyton Reed (“Ant-Man,” “Down With Love”) handles the action admirably, mixing up movement, style, and locations to avoid boredom via repetition, while Coates’ scripts feature enough sharp jokes to keep the laughs as consistent as the pacing.

Overall, this is popcorn entertainment, safely made for the masses, but Waddingham is such a joy to watch and Spencer creates an ideal, idiosyncratic, Type-A foil. In a just world, they’d be on our screens every week, bopping around Europe and bumping off bad guys. But we’ll settle for a few more seasons over the next few years — unless Waddingham prefers to stretch her wings in another genre. Perhaps a classic noir? Or a stoner comedy? But first… more “Ted Lasso.”

Grade: B-

“Ride or Die” premieres Wednesday, July 15 on Amazon Prime Video. All eight episodes of the first season will be released at once.