Passes the Bechdel test

American Ultra

Name: American Ultra
Released: 2015

2015. Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, written by Max Landis.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 75.
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 1 out of 3.

The film

Small-town stoner Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) spends most of his time getting high and writing a graphic novel about a superhero monkey. What Mike doesn't know is that he was trained by the CIA to be a lethal killing machine. When the agency targets him for termination, his former handler activates his latent skills, turning the mild-mannered slacker into a deadly weapon. Now, the utterly surprised Mike must use his newfound abilities to save himself and his girlfriend from getting wasted by the failed test subjects that are sent after him by the CIA.

Released: 21 Aug 2015
Genres: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.1 / 10
Metascore: 50 / 100
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Mike 193 lines, man
Phoebe 144 lines, woman
Lasseter 110 lines, woman
Yates 109 lines, man
Douglas 36 lines, man
Rose 28 lines, man
Otis 26 lines, man
Watts 24 lines, man
Krueger 23 lines, man
Laugher 14 lines, man

Full cast, 58 people

Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell
Kristen Stewart as Phoebe Larson
Topher Grace as Adrian Yates
Connie Britton as Victoria Lasseter
Walton Goggins as Laugher
John Leguizamo as Rose
Bill Pullman as Krueger
Tony Hale as Agent Peter Douglas
Stuart Greer as Sheriff Bernie Watts
Michael Papajohn as Otis
Monique Ganderton as Crane
Nash Edgerton as Beedle
Paul O'Connor as Diesel
Freddie Poole as Potter
Ilram Choi as Newton
James Bendishaw as Bourbon
Lavell Crawford as Big Harold
Sam Malone as Quinzin
Jim Klock as Deputy Labutte
Wayne Péré as Deputy Krantz
Gabe Begneaud as Deputy Jordan
Rachel Wulff as CNN Reporter
Lyle Brocato as CIA Analyst
Don Yesso as Air Force Commander
Jack Yang as Gangster
Vic Chao as Rowdy
Johnny McPhail as Gas Station Attendant
Nick Stanner as Asset #1
Eyad Elbitar as Asset #2
Trace Cheramie as Asset #3
Isaac Hughes as Asset #4
John Bernecker as Asset #5
Tim J. Smith as Asset #6
Matthew R. Staley as Asset #7
Alvin Chong as Asset #8
Michael Jamorski as Asset #9
Greg Rementer as Asset #10
Dino Dos Santos as Asset #11
Robert Bennett as Shopper
Teri Wyble as Tech #1
James Moses Black as Tech #2
Eric Stratemeier as Stunt Thug #1
Eric VanArsdale as Stunt Thug #2
Sope Aluko as Krueger's Wife
Macee Binns as Party Hipster
Nicolas Bosc as The Party Guy
Kyle Crosby as Soldier
Michelle DeVito as CIA Tech
Alexander Eldimiati as CIA Operative
Joseph Fischer as CIA Tech
Philip Fornah as Concierge
Tyler Forrest as Hooper
Geraldine Glenn as Airport Traveler
Mary Elizabeth Runyon as Gretchen
Billy Slaughter as Staff Sgt. Harris
John L. Armijo as CIA Agent
Tom Bui as Businessman
Johnny Otto as CIA Agent (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 75

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 2	0	3
3 to 4	1	1
5 to 6	29	33
7 to 8	15	9
9 to 10	15	12
11 to 12	14	18
13 to 14	0	12
15 to 16	6	11
17 to 18	9	28
19 to 20	7	19
21 to 22	8	28
23 to 24	8	11
25 to 26	12	12
27 to 28	1	2
29 to 30	20	16
31 to 32	0	14
33 to 34	12	41
35 to 36	1	3
37 to 38	7	18
39 to 40	3	5
41 to 42	0	6
43 to 44	23	38
45 to 46	6	8
47 to 48	15	18
49 to 50	7	8
51 to 52	0	6
53 to 54	8	15
55 to 56	6	6
57 to 58	0	7
59 to 60	0	4
61 to 62	8	25
63 to 64	1	14
65 to 66	4	5
67 to 68	2	3
69 to 70	5	5
71 to 72	9	21
73 to 74	0	1
75 to 75	0	3

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.

PHOEBE: C’mon- c’mon- CRANE: ...Bonjour. Jambo. Hello. Hola. Salut.

CNN REPORTER: -Reports continue to come in of a full-on level six quarantine around the town of Liman, Oregon, where a break out of what is being describe… PHOEBE: It’s not real. It can’t be real-

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.

262 lines from women, 489 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 44 men in the cast. 5 women and 19 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 6 of 810. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 34% of the words (3,026), men 66% (5,846). Women have 35% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

1 of the 14 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 12% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Nima Nourizadeh (man)
Written by: Max Landis (man)
Produced by: Kevin Scott Frakes (man), David Alpert (man), Anthony Bregman (man), Raj Brinder Singh (man), Britton Rizzio (gender not listed)
Shot by: Michael Bonvillain (man)
Edited by: Andrew Marcus (man), Bill Pankow (man)
Music by: Marcelo Zarvos (man), Paul Hartnoll (man)
Production design by: Richard Bridgland (man)
Cast by: Jeanne McCarthy (woman)