Fails the Bechdel test
American Animals
2018. Directed by Bart Layton, written by Bart Layton and Jon Croker and Joe Murtagh.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
20 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
In this crime drama, four bright and well-off college students in Kentucky plot to steal some rare books from their university's Special Collections Library in a misguided quest for personal glory. Based on the story, the film includes interviews with the foursome who attempted the bizarre heist. Starring Barry Keoghan, Evan Peters, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson and Ann Dowd.
- Released
- 14 Aug 2018
- Genres
- Biography, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- 10 wins & 22 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Actor Warren 207 lines, man
- Real Spencer 124 lines, man
- Actor Spencer 115 lines, man
- Actor Eric 55 lines, man
- Actor Chas 53 lines, man
- Real Eric 41 lines, man
- Real Warren 31 lines, man
- Real Chas 17 lines, man
- Bearded Man 11 lines, man
- Bj 11 lines, woman
Full cast, 60 people
- Evan Peters as Warren Lipka
- Barry Keoghan as Spencer Reinhard
- Blake Jenner as Chas Allen
- Jared Abrahamson as Eric Borsuk
- Ann Dowd as Betty Jean 'BJ' Gooch
- Gary Basaraba as Warren Lipka Senior
- Udo Kier as Mr. Van Der Hoek
- Wayne Duvall as Bill Welton
- Whitney Goin as Mrs. Allen
- Lara Grice as Mrs. Lipka
- Robert C. Treveiler as Mr. Reinhard
- Jane McNeill as Mrs. Reinhard
- Maggie Lacey as Ms. Halloran
- Warren Lipka as The Real Warren Lipka
- Spencer Reinhard as The Real Spencer Reinhard
- Chas Allen as The Real Chas Allen
- Eric Borsuk as The Real Eric Borsuk
- Fedor Steer as Dutchman in Café
- Jack Landry as Economics Lecturer
- Gretchen Koerner as Exam Professor #2
- William Cowboy Reed as FBI Dorm
- Drew Starkey as Frat Boy
- Karen Wheeling Reynolds as Female Art Professor
- Kevin L. Johnson as Scruffy Counterfeiter
- Abigail Dolan as Special Collections Student
- Dorothy Reynolds as Spencer's Sister
- Al Mitchell as Supermarket Security
- Marlo Scheitler as Airport Traveler (uncredited)
- Pamela Bell Mitchell as Art Class Girl (uncredited)
- Tiffany Alice as Art Class Girl (uncredited)
- Josh Royston as Bartender (uncredited)
- Steven 'Trainset' Curtis as Blues Bar Patron (uncredited)
- Grayson Nickel as Brother of Graduate (uncredited)
- Lauran Foster as Club Goer (uncredited)
- Jesse Truesdell as FBI Agent (uncredited)
- Alec Heroux as Frat Boy (uncredited)
- Morgan Prewitt as Girl in Hallway (uncredited)
- Brian Cole as Man Dancing in Bar (uncredited)
- Stacy Rabon as Mean Betty Jean (uncredited)
- Jason Caceres as Pledge (uncredited)
- Stephen Royal Phillips as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Ben McIntire as Reinhard's Sibling (uncredited)
- Josh Jordan as Smoking Kid (uncredited)
- Cody Taylor as Student (uncredited)
- Debby Handolescu as Student (uncredited)
- Liam Marcy as Student (uncredited)
- James R. Wiley as Student in Dorm Hall (uncredited)
- Elijah Everett as Transy Security (uncredited)
- JD Demers as Used Car Salesman (uncredited)
- Hannah Hoyt as Valedictorian (uncredited)
- Kelly Borgnis as Woman at the Bar (uncredited)
- Sophia Alongi as Younger Sister (uncredited)
- Kareem J. Alston
- Anthony J. Police as Man with Gun
- Eddie King as Male Art Professor
- James Rackley as Active
- Mike Stoudt as Local Radio DJ
- Blaque Fowler as Costume Shop Owner
- Tonya Bludsworth as Exam Professor
- Carroll M. Johnson as Gun Shop Owner
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 8 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 363
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 8 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 to 16 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 to 24 | 1 | 27 |
| 25 to 32 | 1 | 11 |
| 33 to 40 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 to 48 | 3 | 18 |
| 49 to 56 | 7 | 8 |
| 57 to 64 | 0 | 28 |
| 65 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 80 | 8 | 17 |
| 81 to 88 | 0 | 32 |
| 89 to 96 | 0 | 17 |
| 97 to 104 | 1 | 11 |
| 105 to 112 | 0 | 10 |
| 113 to 120 | 1 | 14 |
| 121 to 128 | 0 | 18 |
| 129 to 136 | 1 | 23 |
| 137 to 144 | 0 | 35 |
| 145 to 152 | 1 | 19 |
| 153 to 160 | 0 | 10 |
| 161 to 168 | 0 | 33 |
| 169 to 176 | 0 | 27 |
| 177 to 184 | 3 | 5 |
| 185 to 192 | 0 | 11 |
| 193 to 200 | 0 | 14 |
| 201 to 208 | 0 | 19 |
| 209 to 216 | 2 | 36 |
| 217 to 224 | 0 | 23 |
| 225 to 232 | 5 | 10 |
| 233 to 240 | 0 | 6 |
| 241 to 248 | 0 | 8 |
| 249 to 256 | 0 | 21 |
| 257 to 264 | 0 | 11 |
| 265 to 272 | 0 | 6 |
| 273 to 280 | 3 | 7 |
| 281 to 288 | 1 | 24 |
| 289 to 296 | 0 | 11 |
| 297 to 304 | 0 | 21 |
| 305 to 312 | 9 | 34 |
| 313 to 320 | 0 | 6 |
| 321 to 328 | 0 | 10 |
| 329 to 336 | 1 | 4 |
| 337 to 344 | 0 | 18 |
| 345 to 352 | 0 | 9 |
| 353 to 360 | 0 | 10 |
| 361 to 363 | 0 | 6 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 6 are women's.
49 lines from women, 707 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
20 women and 36 men in the cast. 8 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 826.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 97 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (1,049), men 92% (12,796). Women have 6% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
0
Two men
67
Exhibit E: behind the camera
7 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bart Layton (man)
- Written by
- Bart Layton (man)
- Produced by
- Mary Jane Skalski (woman), Derrin Schlesinger (woman), Dimitri Doganis (man), Katherine Butler (woman), Poppy Dixon (woman)
- Shot by
- Ole Bratt Birkeland (man)
- Edited by
- Nick Fenton (man), Chris Gill (man), Julian Hart (gender not listed), Luke Dunkley (gender not listed)
- Music by
- Anne Nikitin (woman)
- Production design by
- Scott Dougan (man)
- Costumes by
- Jenny Eagan (woman)
- Cast by
- Avy Kaufman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 8 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 52 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lara Grice 46, Whitney Goin 48, Ann Dowd 62
Men
Barry Keoghan 25, Blake Jenner 25, Jared Abrahamson 30, Evan Peters 31, Gary Basaraba 59, Wayne Duvall 60, Udo Kier 73
Exhibit G: the money
It made 95% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $3 million
- Box office
- $2.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 363 scenes and 826 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
