Passes the Bechdel test
500 Days of Summer
2009. Directed by Marc Webb, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
28 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 146. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or not.
- Released
- 07 Aug 2009
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 76 / 100
- Awards
- 17 wins & 58 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Tom 468 lines, man
- Summer 238 lines, woman
- Mckenzie 77 lines, man
- Paul 48 lines, man
- Rachel 45 lines, woman
- Girl 24 lines, woman
- Vance 23 lines, man
- Narrator 20 lines, man
- Alison 15 lines, woman
- Douche 11 lines, man
Full cast, 64 people
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom
- Zooey Deschanel as Summer
- Geoffrey Arend as McKenzie
- Chloë Grace Moretz as Rachel
- Matthew Gray Gubler as Paul
- Clark Gregg as Vance
- Patricia Belcher as Millie
- Rachel Boston as Alison
- Minka Kelly as Autumn
- Charles Walker as Millie's New Husband
- Ian Reed Kesler as Douche
- Darryl Alan Reed as Bus Driver
- Valente Rodriguez as Employee #1
- Yvette Nicole Brown as New Secretary
- Nicole Vicius as Partygoer
- Natalie Boren as Another Partygoer
- Maile Flanagan as Rhoda
- Darryl Sivad as Usher
- Gregory A. Thompson as Minister
- Michael Bodie as Man
- John Mackie as Mime
- Jacob Stroop as Cupid
- Kevin Michael as Wedding Singer
- Sid Wilner as Grossman
- Richard McGonagle as Narrator (voice)
- Jean-Paul Vignon as French Narrator (voice)
- Bryan Anthony as Dancer
- Sybil Azur as Dancer
- Cheryl Baxter as Dancer
- Gustavo Carr as Dancer
- John R. Corella as Dancer
- Nadine Ellis as Dancer
- Alejandro Estornel as Dancer
- Nathaniel Flatt as Dancer
- Reshma Gajjar as Dancer
- Tiffany Granath as Dancer
- Jennifer Hamilton as Dancer
- Brandon Henschel as Dancer
- Michael Higgins as Dancer
- Kenneth Hughes as Dancer
- Alexandra Nicole Hulme as Dancer
- John Jacquet Jr. as Dancer
- Jennifer Lee Keyes as Dancer
- Tim Lacatena as Dancer
- Rebecca Lin as Dancer
- Gelsey Weiss as Dancer
- Katie Malia as Dancer
- Anthony Marciona as Dancer
- Christopher Martinez as Dancer
- Vivian Nixon as Dancer
- Tracy Phillips as Dancer
- Nathan Prevost as Dancer
- Jamie Shea as Dancer
- Ryan Thomas as Dancer
- Christian Vincent as Dancer
- Jull Weber as Dancer
- Olivia Howard Bagg as Summer - Age 12 (uncredited)
- Jason Robinson as The Puma (uncredited)
- Chris Connell as Marcus (uncredited)
- Samantha Krutzfeldt as Charlie (uncredited)
- Kathryn Weisbeck as Summer Lookalike (uncredited)
- Eileen Álvarez as Summer Lookalike (uncredited)
- Jennifer Hetrick as Sarah (uncredited)
- Pleasant Wayne as Tavern Patron (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 146
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 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 to 12 | 9 | 10 |
| 13 to 16 | 2 | 4 |
| 17 to 20 | 13 | 11 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 29 |
| 25 to 28 | 26 | 39 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 13 |
| 33 to 36 | 4 | 26 |
| 37 to 40 | 1 | 17 |
| 41 to 44 | 36 | 52 |
| 45 to 48 | 18 | 38 |
| 49 to 52 | 4 | 18 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 3 |
| 57 to 60 | 8 | 9 |
| 61 to 64 | 6 | 6 |
| 65 to 68 | 17 | 39 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 4 |
| 77 to 80 | 22 | 36 |
| 81 to 84 | 21 | 18 |
| 85 to 88 | 10 | 11 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 3 |
| 93 to 96 | 5 | 8 |
| 97 to 100 | 10 | 22 |
| 101 to 104 | 16 | 15 |
| 105 to 108 | 7 | 26 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 19 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 38 |
| 121 to 124 | 35 | 54 |
| 125 to 128 | 4 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 4 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 7 | 7 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 146 | 49 | 53 |
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.
SUMMER: What? SARAH: Hey!
SARAH: Summer! Well hello! We've heard so much about you! It's so good to finally meet you. SUMMER: You too.
SARAH: You going to see the serial killer one? SUMMER: Yes we are. SARAH: Great! Should we save you seats? SUMMER: Absolutely.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 34 are women's.
341 lines from women, 652 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
28 women and 29 men in the cast. 4 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 11 of 1,017.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 106 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 31% of the words (2,428), men 69% (5,433). Women have 34% 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
5
Two men
39
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Marc Webb (man)
- Written by
- Michael H. Weber (man), Scott Neustadter (man)
- Produced by
- Mason Novick (man), Jessica Tuchinsky (woman), Steven J. Wolfe (man), Mark Waters (man)
- Shot by
- Eric Steelberg (man)
- Edited by
- Alan Edward Bell (man)
- Music by
- Rob Simonsen (man), Mychael Danna (man)
- Production design by
- Laura Fox (woman)
- Costumes by
- Hope Hanafin (woman)
- Cast by
- Eyde Belasco (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 34 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Chloë Grace Moretz 12, Rachel Boston 27, Zooey Deschanel 29, Minka Kelly 29, Patricia Belcher 55
Men
Joseph Gordon-Levitt 28, Matthew Gray Gubler 29, Geoffrey Arend 31, Clark Gregg 47
Exhibit H: the money
It made 8.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $7.5 million
- Box office
- $60.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 146 scenes and 1,017 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
