Passes the Bechdel test
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
1996. Directed by Martin Lawrence, written by Martin Lawrence and Bentley Kyle Evans and Kenny Buford.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 150. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
An observable, fast-talking party man Darnell Wright, gets his punishment when one of his conquests takes it personally and comes back for revenge in this 'Fatal Attraction'-esque comic thriller.
- Released
- 03 Apr 1996
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.7 / 10
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Darnell 338 lines, man
- Brandi 89 lines, woman
- Mia 78 lines, woman
- Tee 66 lines, man
- Ma 24 lines, woman
- Smitty 23 lines, man
- Earl 12 lines, man
- Reggie 12 lines, man
- Nikki 11 lines, woman
- Gwen 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 18 people
- Lynn Whitfield as Brandi
- Martin Lawrence as Darnell
- Regina King as Mia
- Della Reese as Ma Wright
- Bobby Brown as Tee
- Malinda Williams as Erica Wright
- Daryl Mitchell as Earl
- Roger E. Mosley as Smitty
- Simbi Khali as Adrienne
- Tangie Ambrose as Nikki
- Wendy Raquel Robinson as Gwen
- Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Reggie
- Faizon Love as Manny
- Michael Taliferro as Club Security #1
- Tommy Lister Jr. as Tyrone
- Tracy Morgan as Bartender
- Stacii Jae Johnson as Peaches
- Dartanyan Edmonds as Rodney
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 150
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 | 2 |
| 5 to 8 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 6 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 16 |
| 25 to 28 | 16 | 40 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 17 |
| 33 to 36 | 5 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 to 44 | 18 | 23 |
| 45 to 48 | 6 | 35 |
| 49 to 52 | 12 | 26 |
| 53 to 56 | 6 | 7 |
| 57 to 60 | 5 | 11 |
| 61 to 64 | 28 | 24 |
| 65 to 68 | 11 | 26 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 76 | 6 | 15 |
| 77 to 80 | 3 | 8 |
| 81 to 84 | 1 | 12 |
| 85 to 88 | 7 | 7 |
| 89 to 92 | 9 | 27 |
| 93 to 96 | 21 | 19 |
| 97 to 100 | 7 | 10 |
| 101 to 104 | 3 | 4 |
| 105 to 108 | 8 | 13 |
| 109 to 112 | 5 | 15 |
| 113 to 116 | 5 | 6 |
| 117 to 120 | 11 | 21 |
| 121 to 124 | 6 | 22 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 8 |
| 129 to 132 | 6 | 10 |
| 133 to 136 | 1 | 5 |
| 137 to 140 | 9 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 6 | 8 |
| 145 to 148 | 6 | 5 |
| 149 to 150 | 0 | 2 |
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.
MIA: — That's sweet of you. PEACHES: What else you uncork tonight?
PEACHES: You better do it fast, ‘cause girlfriend might be going back into the Air Force. MIA: Peaches...
BRANDI: But you said you loved me. BRANDI . -: You put your hands on the wrong woman. BRANDI: That should cover your lock.
MIA: Look. BRANDI: Get in the tub.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.
238 lines from women, 475 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 9 men in the cast. 11 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 761.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 34 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 (2,492), men 70% (5,758). Women have 33% 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
10
Two men
32
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Martin Lawrence (man)
- Written by
- Kenny Buford (gender not listed), Kim Bass (man), Martin Lawrence (man), Bentley Kyle Evans (man)
- Story by
- Martin Lawrence (man)
- Shot by
- Francis Kenny (man)
- Edited by
- John Carter (man)
- Music by
- Roger Troutman (man)
- Production design by
- Simon Dobbin (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Barbara Cohen (woman), Mary Gail Artz (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
1 women, 1 men
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Malinda Williams 20, Simbi Khali 24, Regina King 25, Tangie Ambrose 28, Lynn Whitfield 43, Della Reese 64
Men
Bobby Brown 27, Martin Lawrence 30, Daryl Mitchell 30, Roger E. Mosley 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $34.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 150 scenes and 761 lines of dialogue. How the test works
