Passes the Bechdel test
Bad Teacher
2011. Directed by Jake Kasdan, written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
19 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 134. -
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.
The film
When her wealthy fiancé breaks it off, gold digger Elizabeth Halsey returns to middle school: she's an awful teacher but wants to save for breast-implant surgery. She brightens when Scott, a new teacher, turns out to be rich, and she stops showing films and sleeping in class when told there's a bonus for the teacher whose class scores highest on the state exam. Her competition for Scott and the bonus is cheery and tightly wound Amy. Amy digs for dirt on Elizabeth who cheats her way toward Scott's bed and the money. Honesty with students seems to be her only skill. She ignores Russell, a droll gym teacher, who looks on. Will she succeed with Scott and get those new breasts?
- Released
- 24 Jun 2011
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 47 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Elizabeth 310 lines, woman
- Amy 77 lines, woman
- Scott 55 lines, man
- Lynn 40 lines, woman
- Garrett 39 lines, man
- Principal Snur 32 lines, man
- Sasha 26 lines, woman
- Carl 23 lines, man
- Melody 22 lines, woman
- Kirk 10 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
- Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth Halsey
- Justin Timberlake as Scott Delacorte
- Jason Segel as Russell Gettis
- Lucy Punch as Amy Squirrel
- Phyllis Smith as Lynn Davies
- Kaitlyn Dever as Sasha Abernathy
- John Michael Higgins as Principal Wally Snur
- Thomas Lennon as Carl Halabi
- Kathryn Newton as Chase Rubin-Rosse
- Molly Shannon as Melody (Garrett's Mom)
- Eric Stonestreet as Kirk
- Matthew J. Evans as Garrett Tiara
- Dave Allen as Sandy Pinkus
- Jillian Armenante as Ms. Pavicic
- Igal Ben Yair as Arkady
- Aja Bair as Devon (Chase's Friend)
- Andra Nechita as Gaby
- Noah Munck as Tristan
- FINNEAS as Spencer
- Daniel Castro as Rodrigo (Acne Kid)
- Deirdre Lovejoy as Sasha's Mother
- Adrian Kali Turner as Shawn
- Paul Bates as School Superintendent
- Jeff Judah as Janitor
- Nat Faxon as Mark
- Stephanie Faracy as Mrs. Pubich
- David Paymer as Doctor Vogel
- Alanna Ubach as Angela
- Christine Smith as Danni
- Paul Feig as Dad at Carwash
- Melvin Mar as Male Teacher (Bathroom)
- Rose Abdoo as School Secretary
- Jerry Lambert as Morgan's Dad
- Jennifer Irwin as Chase's Mom
- Christopher Rockwell as Chase's Dad
- David Doty as Armando the Homeless Guy
- Rick Overton as Philip
- Danny Trapp as Cowboy at Palace
- Matt Besser as Abraham Lincoln (Tour Guide)
- Lee Eisenberg as Blacksmith (Re-Enactor)
- Bruno Gunn as Police Officer
- Jordan Van Vranken as Crying Girl
- Kadee Noel Brown as Student in Elizabeth's Class (uncredited)
- Jennifer Holloway as Sheila (uncredited)
- Christina Gabrielle as 8th Grade Student (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 134
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 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 26 | 7 |
| 13 to 15 | 33 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 9 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 34 | 14 |
| 22 to 24 | 13 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 21 | 5 |
| 28 to 30 | 17 | 10 |
| 31 to 33 | 6 | 4 |
| 34 to 36 | 8 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 18 | 7 |
| 40 to 42 | 25 | 11 |
| 43 to 45 | 23 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 14 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 28 | 14 |
| 58 to 60 | 9 | 3 |
| 61 to 63 | 10 | 2 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 15 | 4 |
| 70 to 72 | 19 | 5 |
| 73 to 75 | 13 | 7 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 18 | 21 |
| 82 to 84 | 9 | 6 |
| 85 to 87 | 9 | 4 |
| 88 to 90 | 15 | 4 |
| 91 to 93 | 7 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 5 | 4 |
| 97 to 99 | 5 | 2 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 8 |
| 106 to 108 | 8 | 10 |
| 109 to 111 | 12 | 9 |
| 112 to 114 | 10 | 4 |
| 115 to 117 | 16 | 9 |
| 118 to 120 | 2 | 1 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 1 |
| 124 to 126 | 5 | 1 |
| 127 to 129 | 7 | 8 |
| 130 to 132 | 4 | 3 |
| 133 to 134 | 10 | 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.
LYNN: Oh sorry, am I interrupting? ELIZABETH: Um -- kinda. LYNN: Do you want to grab some lunch? ELIZABETH: I'm in the middle of something, Lynn. My treat.
ELIZABETH: What. SASHA: I'm a student leader for the D.C. trip -- ELIZABETH: Shocker. SASHA: And we're having our car wash this weekend. If you're around, maybe we could wash your car.
ELIZABETH: Yeah, I love helping bums. MELODY: Oh, but you have to wait for dessert. We have a real treat. ELIZABETH: If it's cheesecake, I'll stay. MELODY: It's even better than cheesecake!
ELIZABETH: Um, yes! That sounds like a party. Lynn, do you want to come? LYNN: Yes.
ELIZABETH: We're here to learn. Anyone else have a problem with that? Good. So who has the answer to my question? Everyone looks down. ELIZABETH: Nobody's read this book? It's on the syllabus. SASHA: You never assigned it to us. ELIZABETH: Well, now I am. And we're having a quiz tomorrow. Panic.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.
504 lines from women, 209 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
19 women and 24 men in the cast. 11 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 741.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 6 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 71% of the words (7,546), men 29% (3,091).
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
37
Two men
8
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jake Kasdan (man)
- Written by
- Lee Eisenberg (man), Gene Stupnitsky (man)
- Produced by
- Jimmy Miller (man), David B. Householter (man)
- Shot by
- Alar Kivilo (man)
- Edited by
- Tara Timpone (woman)
- Music by
- Michael Andrews (man)
- Production design by
- Jefferson Sage (man)
- Costumes by
- Debra McGuire (woman)
- Cast by
- Amy McIntyre Britt (woman), Anya Colloff (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 10 men, 19 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 20 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
6 women, 8 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kaitlyn Dever 14, Kathryn Newton 14, Lucy Punch 33, Cameron Diaz 38, Molly Shannon 46, Phyllis Smith 61
Men
Justin Timberlake 30, Jason Segel 31, Thomas Lennon 40, John Michael Higgins 48
Exhibit H: the money
It made 10.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $216 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 134 scenes and 741 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
