{"id":544242,"date":"2026-07-16T11:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/544242\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:26:16","slug":"ride-or-die-review-hannah-waddingham-kicks-ass-in-fun-amazon-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/544242\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ride or Die’ Review: Hannah Waddingham Kicks Ass in Fun Amazon Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking generally, collectively, and presumptively, here\u2019s what we\u2019ve come to know about Hannah Waddingham<\/a> \u2014 and by \u201cwe,\u201d I mean \u201cAmericans who started paying attention after \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019<\/a>\u201c: She\u2019s got an incredible voice<\/a>. She\u2019s quite tall<\/a>. And she\u2019s an accomplished actor of the stage<\/a> and screen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Frankly, such a leap from the typical restrictions of typecasting is a victory unto itself, even if Amazon executives likely saw her in \u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning\u201d and\/or \u201cThe Fall Guy,\u201d multiplied by (\u201cTed Lasso\u201d = TV<\/a> show), and continued their mysterious studio math until it added up to \u201cRide or Die<\/a>,\u201d 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\u2019s boring husband.<\/p>\n

\"Hiro<\/a> \"Matt<\/a> <\/p>\n

If the series, created by Tessa Coates and showrun by Matt Miller, isn\u2019t quite as much fun as its leading lady, that\u2019s 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 \u201cRide or Die\u201d cannot, and she helps to make up for recurring tonal challenges. The final few episodes\u2019 excessive melodrama is easily forgiven when what\u2019s good here \u2014\u00a0above-average fights, solid jokes, and a game cast \u2014 isn\u2019t so easy to forget.<\/p>\n

As for the plot, well, let\u2019s 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\u2019s taking too many risks for a \u201cWOACA\u201d (woman of a certain age). Suddenly, she\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"HannahHannah Waddingham<\/a>, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Skrein in \u2018Ride or Die\u2019Courtesy of Prime Video<\/p>\n

Yup, that\u2019s 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 \u2014 uh oh! \u2014 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\u2019s hits.<\/p>\n

With their established lives in limbo, the besties hit the road hoping to save themselves \u2014 and their friendship. Debbie, who always thought Judith was a boring ol\u2019 accountant, doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t reciprocate her efforts. When it comes to Judith, she\u2019s 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 \u201cnormal\u201d?<\/p>\n

Pressing danger forces them to stick together, sure, but \u201cRide or Die\u201d 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\u2019t 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\u2019s young handler whose loyalties are torn between his agent and his agency). <\/p>\n

Pilot director Peyton Reed (\u201cAnt-Man,\u201d \u201cDown With Love\u201d) handles the action admirably, mixing up movement, style, and locations to avoid boredom via repetition, while Coates\u2019 scripts feature enough sharp jokes to keep the laughs as consistent as the pacing.<\/p>\n

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\u2019d be on our screens every week, bopping around Europe and bumping off bad guys. But we\u2019ll settle for a few more seasons over the next few years \u2014 unless Waddingham prefers to stretch her wings in another genre. Perhaps a classic noir? Or a stoner comedy? But first\u2026 more \u201cTed Lasso.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Grade: B-<\/p>\n

\u201cRide or Die\u201d premieres Wednesday, July 15 on Amazon Prime Video<\/a>. All eight episodes of the first season will be released at once. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking generally, collectively, and presumptively, here\u2019s what we\u2019ve come to know about Hannah Waddingham \u2014 and by \u201cwe,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[12731,146,154910,85,46,189403,1530,205045,411],"class_list":["post-544242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-entertainment","tag-hannah-waddingham","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-octavia-spencer","tag-reviews","tag-ride-or-die","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}