Passes the Bechdel test
50/50
2011. Directed by Jonathan Levine, written by Will Reiser.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
19 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 97. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Adam is a 27 year old writer of radio programs and is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend, his mother, and a young therapist at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.
- Released
- 30 Sep 2011
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- 12 wins & 28 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Adam 427 lines, man
- Seth 111 lines, man
- Katie 100 lines, woman
- Rachel 100 lines, woman
- Edith 64 lines, woman
- Phil 30 lines, man
- Alan 17 lines, man
- Mitch 14 lines, man
- Rabbi 13 lines, man
- Greg 11 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam Lerner
- Seth Rogen as Kyle Hirons
- Anna Kendrick as Katherine McKay
- Bryce Dallas Howard as Rachael
- Anjelica Huston as Diane Lerner
- Serge Houde as Richard Lerner
- Philip Baker Hall as Alan
- Matt Frewer as Mitch
- Andrew Airlie as Dr. Ross
- Peter Kelamis as Phil
- Jessica Parker Kennedy as Jackie
- Sugar Lyn Beard as Susan
- Donna Yamamoto as Dr. Walderson
- Yee Jee Tso as Dr. Lee
- Sarah Smyth as Jenny
- Daniel Bacon as Dr. Phillips
- P. Lynn Johnson as Bernie
- Laura Bertram as Claire
- Matty Finochio as Ted
- Marie Avgeropoulos as Allison
- Luisa d'Oliveira as Agabelle Loogenburgen
- Veena Sood as Nurse Stewart
- Andrea Brooks as Attractive Woman #2
- Beatrice King as Pretty Girl
- Chilton Crane as Mother on the Bus
- Lauren Miller Rogen as Bodie
- Jason Vaisvila as Cute Guy with Dreads
- Brent Sheppard as Minister
- Stephanie Belding as Friendly Nurse
- Ryan W. Smith as Joe
- William 'Big Sleeps' Stewart as George
- Amitai Marmorstein as Young Person on the Bus
- Will Reiser as Greg
- Christopher De-Schuster as Art Gallery Patron
- Adrian Glynn McMorran as Bartender
- Karen van Blankenstein as Nurse Scott
- Richard C. Burton as Thom the Patient
- Susan De West as Bar Girl
- Neil Corbett as Hospital Tech
- Stephen Colbert as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- D. C. Douglas as Live Volcano Reporter (voice) (uncredited)
- Cameron K. Smith as Chemo Patient (uncredited)
- Tom MacNeill as Office Staff (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 97
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 6 | 11 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 5 | 5 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 12 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 58 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 8 |
| 25 to 27 | 17 | 13 |
| 28 to 30 | 39 | 62 |
| 31 to 33 | 36 | 36 |
| 34 to 36 | 15 | 42 |
| 37 to 39 | 5 | 8 |
| 40 to 42 | 9 | 7 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 17 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 28 |
| 49 to 51 | 14 | 28 |
| 52 to 54 | 11 | 30 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 17 |
| 58 to 60 | 19 | 20 |
| 61 to 63 | 34 | 28 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 9 |
| 67 to 69 | 7 | 18 |
| 70 to 72 | 5 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 22 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 17 | 26 |
| 82 to 84 | 32 | 84 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 6 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 3 |
| 91 to 93 | 12 | 18 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 13 |
| 97 to 97 | 2 | 8 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
EDITH: But it's not meat. RACHEL: No, but it has a texture just like meat. EDITH: Mmmmm. It's Good. EDITH: Art, take your pills.
EDITH: And now Rachel. I know we haven't discussed this, but are you going to convert? RACHEL: She thinks we're getting married.
RACHEL: This is your therapist? KATIE: Please, call me Katie. RACHEL: OK. Katie. What are you doing here?
EDITH: Alright. Come on Art, let's go to the waiting room. EDITH: Hmmm. KATIE: I brought you flowers. Not sure why, I didn't know what else-
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.
289 lines from women, 650 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
19 women and 22 men in the cast. 4 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 92 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 30% of the words (2,467), men 70% (5,829). Women have 31% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
11
Two men
30
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jonathan Levine (man)
- Written by
- Will Reiser (man)
- Produced by
- Evan Goldberg (man), Seth Rogen (man), Ben Karlin (man)
- Shot by
- Terry Stacey (man)
- Edited by
- Zene Baker (man)
- Music by
- Michael Giacchino (man)
- Production design by
- Annie Spitz (woman)
- Costumes by
- Carla Hetland (woman)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
2 women, 10 men
-
Production
3 women, 8 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Anna Kendrick 26, Bryce Dallas Howard 30, Anjelica Huston 60
Men
Seth Rogen 29, Joseph Gordon-Levitt 30, Peter Kelamis 44, Andrew Airlie 50, Matt Frewer 53, Serge Houde 58, Philip Baker Hall 80
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $39.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 97 scenes and 994 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
