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Passes the Bechdel test

A Simple Favor

2018. Directed by Paul Feig, written by Darcey Bell and Jessica Sharzer.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    23 women characters. 17 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 14 scenes out of 182.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for A Simple Favor

The film

Stephanie, a widowed mother who also runs a cooking vlog, befriends Emily, a secretive upper-class woman whose son goes to the same elementary school as Stephanie's son does. Suddenly Emily goes missing and Stephanie starts investigating, only to find dark secrets that change her life forever.

Released
14 Sep 2018
Genres
Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Rated
R
IMDb
6.7 / 10
Metascore
67 / 100
Awards
3 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Stephanie 474 lines, woman
  2. Emily 215 lines, woman
  3. Sean 203 lines, man
  4. Nicky 43 lines, man
  5. Detective Meany 34 lines
  6. Mrs. Mclennan 24 lines, woman
  7. Darren 20 lines, man
  8. Diana 18 lines, woman
  9. Miles 18 lines, man
  10. Dennis Nylon 12 lines, man
Full cast, 54 people
  • Anna Kendrick as Stephanie Smothers
  • Blake Lively as Emily Nelson
  • Henry Golding as Sean Townsend
  • Rupert Friend as Dennis Nylon
  • Linda Cardellini as Diana Hyland
  • Bashir Salahuddin as Detective Summervile
  • Danielle Bourgon as Grace, Stephanie's Mom
  • Kelly McCormack as Stacy
  • Andrew Rannells as Darren
  • Ian Ho as Nicky Nelson
  • Joshua Satine as Miles Smothers
  • Paul Jurewicz as Bobby Chelkowsky
  • Roger Dunn as Bruce Hargrave
  • Dustin Milligan as Chris
  • Eric Johnson as Davis
  • Jason Oliveira as Diego
  • Patti Harrison as Kiko
  • Ava LaFramboise as Lulu
  • Jean Smart as Margaret McLanden
  • Sarah Baker as Maryanne Chelkowsky
  • Glenda Braganza as Mrs. Kerry
  • Zach Smadu as Officer Blanco
  • Andrew Moodie as Sergeant Molloy
  • Aparna Nancherla as Sona
  • Gia Sandhu as Valerie
  • Melissa O'Neil as Beth
  • Jiah Mavji as Sona's Daughter
  • Lila Yee as Margaret
  • Sugenja Sri as Dennis Nylon Receptionist
  • Noorin Gulamgaus as Dennis Nylon Intern
  • Katherine Cullen as Dennis Nylon Assistant
  • Howard Hoover as Priest
  • Ronnie Rowe as Police Officer #1
  • Melody Johnson as Police Officer #2
  • Corinne Conley as Librarian
  • Olivia Sandoval as Ms. Prager
  • Nicole Peters as Hope (16 Years Old)
  • Lauren Peters as Faith (16 Years Old)
  • Umed Amin as Drugged Out Older Guy
  • Jamie Jones as Mr. McLanden
  • Lesleh Donaldson as Bus Tourist
  • Tina Legris as Tattoo Artist
  • Chris Owens as Detective
  • Geoffrey Antoine as Warfield Police Officer
  • Rosanna Scotto as TV Reporter #1
  • Lorene Stokes as TV Reporter #2
  • Stacey Coke as Lawyer
  • Jung-Yul Kim as SWAT Leader
  • Domenic Cina as Press #1
  • Julio Benitez Guardiola as Press #2
  • Debra Kaiser as Press #3
  • Carmen Araiza as Press #4
  • Michael Park Ingram as Press #5
  • Glen Brough as Press #6

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 182

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 4195
5 to 83912
9 to 12629
13 to 16480
17 to 20320
21 to 2497
25 to 28106
29 to 322211
33 to 361739
37 to 401417
41 to 4450
45 to 482310
49 to 5285
53 to 561315
57 to 60105
61 to 6491
65 to 681122
69 to 7264
73 to 76118
77 to 80160
81 to 8460
85 to 88918
89 to 921010
93 to 961514
97 to 10040
101 to 104135
105 to 1082010
109 to 112144
113 to 116310
117 to 12030
121 to 1241811
125 to 12870
129 to 132351
133 to 136178
137 to 1405120
141 to 14440
145 to 14850
149 to 152130
153 to 156200
157 to 160253
161 to 164815
165 to 16812
169 to 172157
173 to 1764416
177 to 180187
181 to 18243

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.
STEPHANIE: Oh, shoot. The lighting was pretty bad. STACY: Just set it to Auto. STEPHANIE: What’s the fun in that? All right, everybody look like you’re having fun! SONA: How can she still have energy?
STACY: God, it’d be my dream to run PR for Dennis Nylon. Can you imagine all the free shit she must get? The parties? I’d kill for one night of her… SONA: I would miss my kids too much. Honey, sit up. This game is hurting Mommy’s knees.
STEPHANIE: What if I just erase myself from decorations and leave it for Emily? Then if she can’t make it, I’ll still bring my balloons and helium tank… STACY: Please tell me you don’t actually own a helium tank. STEPHANIE: I think lots of people own helium tanks, Stacy. If they don’t, they should. Kids love balloons, especially floaty ones.
EMILY: Do you drink? I need a martini. STEPHANIE: A martini. Wow. I haven’t had a martini in forever. Apple’s my favorite. EMILY: Get in the car. No play date.
STEPHANIE: Don’t swamp your galoshes! STACY: What on earth are those two going to talk about? SONA: Maybe they won’t talk. Maybe Stephanie will color-code her Tupperware.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.

794 lines from women, 330 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

23 women and 22 men in the cast. 17 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,174. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 76% of the words (13,753), men 24% (4,253). Women have 71% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 47% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Paul Feig (man)
Written by
Jessica Sharzer (woman), Paul Feig (man)
From the novel by
Darcey Bell (woman)
Produced by
Paul Feig (man), Jessie Henderson (woman)
Shot by
John Schwartzman (man)
Edited by
Brent White (man)
Music by
Theodore Shapiro (man)
Production design by
Jefferson Sage (man)
Costumes by
Renee Ehrlich Kalfus (woman)
Cast by
Allison Jones (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    6 women, 3 men, 10 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    7 women, 0 men, 11 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 6 men, 11 not listed

  • Sound

    5 women, 9 men, 2 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 3 men, 9 not listed

  • Editing

    1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Other crew

    1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 34 on average. Men: 31 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Kelly McCormack 27, Blake Lively 31, Anna Kendrick 33, Linda Cardellini 43

Men

Ian Ho 8, Henry Golding 31, Rupert Friend 36, Andrew Rannells 40, Bashir Salahuddin 42

Exhibit H: the money

It made 4.9 times what it cost.

Budget
$20 million
Box office
$97.6 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 182 scenes and 1,174 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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