REVIEW: Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer make brilliant besties in ‘Ride or Die’
DUBAI: Despite incorporating nearly every cliché in the spy-comedy playbook, “Ride or Die” succeeds thanks to one important ingredient: The irresistible chemistry between Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer. Their easy rapport transforms what could have been another formulaic action caper into a genuinely entertaining, if predictable, binge.
Spencer plays Debbie Claybourne, the brilliant but overlooked wife of an ambitious British politician, who believes her lifelong best friend Judith Burton (Waddingham) is a mild-mannered forensic accountant. That illusion is shattered when a botched assassination exposes Judith (aka Whiptail) as a highly trained international assassin, and drags Debbie into a sprawling conspiracy that sends the pair on the run across Europe with corrupt politicians, ruthless criminals and law enforcement all in pursuit.
The supporting cast offer dependable backup, even if their characters never evolve beyond one dimension. Sylvia Hoeks is an icy foil as the calculating Ana. Bill Nighy lends gravitas as the mysterious Director, and Jamie Parker is suitably smug as Debbie’s philandering politician husband, David.
