Passes the Bechdel test

Cecil B. Demented

Name: Cecil B. Demented
Released: 2000

2000. Directed by John Waters, written by John Waters.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 99.
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

In front of the cameras and in public, famed Hollywood actress Honey Whitlock, a product of the studio system, is as sweet as her name. Behind the scenes, she is demanding and controlling, making life a nightmare for anyone who has to deal with her, especially her browbeaten assistant, Libby. She and her entourage are in Baltimore - what is emerging as the Hollywood of the east - for the premiere of her latest movie. The premiere gets hijacked by a group of guerrilla independent filmmakers, led by director Cecil B. DeMented, in wanting to make a statement against the Hollywood studio system and the bad movies they produce. Cecil and his band kidnap Honey in the process. What their goal is, with no money per se, to make their own movie starring Honey as a statement against the Hollywood studios. Their general process is to have the scripted elements of the movie, such as Honey's dialogue, being set against "real life" in they overtaking several of the Hollywood movie studio events in Baltimore, such as the filming of the sequel to Forrest Gump (1994). The main questions become if Honey, who is being forced to participate against her will, will truly change as a person and as an actress in seeing Cecil's vision, and how long Cecil and his group can continue in their kamikaze ways, overtaking the movie events in the city, in being the outlaws they have become.

Released: 01 Sep 2000
Genres: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.3 / 10
Metascore: 57 / 100
Awards: 2 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Cecil 119 lines, man
Honey 84 lines, woman
Cherish 33 lines, woman
Lyle 22 lines, man
Dinah 13 lines
Film Commissioner 13 lines
Fidget 12 lines
Raven 12 lines, woman
Pam 11 lines
Chardonnay 10 lines, woman

Full cast, 36 people

Melanie Griffith as Honey Whitlock
Stephen Dorff as Cecil B. Demented
Alicia Witt as Cherish
Adrian Grenier as Lyle
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Raven
Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Lewis
Jack Noseworthy as Rodney
Michael Shannon as Petie
Harry Dodge as Dinah
Eric Barry as Fidget
Zenzele Uzoma as Chardonnay
Erika Auchterlonie as Pam
Mink Stole as Mrs. Sylvia Mallory
Ricki Lake as Libby
Kevin Nealon as Kevin
Patricia Hearst as Fidget's Mom
Eric Roberts as Honey's Ex
Roseanne Barr as Rosanne
Ray Felton as Roy Stillings
John Michaelson as Charles
Jewel Orem as Maid
Rosemary Knower as Cecil's Mom
Doug Roberts as Cecil's Dad
John Waters as Reporter
Susan Lowe as Family Lady A
Mary Vivian Pearce as Family Lady B
Channing Wilroy as Shop Steward
Patsy Grady Abrams as Family Woman A
Marybeth Wise as A.D
Joe James as Movie Patron (voice, uncredited)
Dan Morgan as Teamster
Delaney Williams as Teamster
Frank Ferrara Sr. as Teamster
Steve Mack as Teamster
Michael Willis as Teamster
Peter Gil as Director

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 19% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 99

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	12	7
4 to 6	8	0
7 to 9	2	3
10 to 12	0	0
13 to 15	6	3
16 to 18	1	2
19 to 21	0	0
22 to 24	0	0
25 to 27	1	1
28 to 30	0	0
31 to 33	0	0
34 to 36	0	0
37 to 39	1	5
40 to 42	18	25
43 to 45	3	1
46 to 48	22	27
49 to 51	4	8
52 to 54	21	36
55 to 57	9	7
58 to 60	11	7
61 to 63	6	6
64 to 66	3	8
67 to 69	9	13
70 to 72	6	19
73 to 75	4	1
76 to 78	10	7
79 to 81	3	0
82 to 84	0	2
85 to 87	0	1
88 to 90	1	2
91 to 93	0	4
94 to 96	0	0
97 to 99	3	10

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.

HONEY: Look at this dump of a town! HONEY turns to her long suffering assistant, LIBBY. The press is gone and they are alone. HONEY: Get me the fuck back to L.A. If one more asshole mentions a crab cake to me, I think I'll puke. LIBBY: Did you try the steamed crabs? They're red and... HONEY: No I didn't! I'm not interested in any kind of meal you have to beat with a mallet... A knock is heard at hotel door.

HONEY: Did you hear what that little bitch said to me? LIBBY: She didn't know. HONEY: In show business we say "break a leg." NEVER fucking "Good Luck"! HONEY: That cocksucker put a curse on my whole fucking premiere! HOTEL GUESTS let out a cry of shock at HONEY's language.

RAVEN: I haven't had this much fun since my last livestock mutilation... RAVEN lunges towards HONEY's eyebrows and painfully tweezes out a hair. HONEY: Oh God! That really hurt! RAVEN: "In the House of Pain, there

HONEY: $7.50 for this piece of shit?! BOX OFFICE LADY screams and locks herself inside as HONEY spray-paints S-H-I-T across box office glass. CHERISH: THE KICK OF OUTLAW CINEMA!

CHERISH: Yeah, that Maryland is not safe for their kind of movies! HONEY: Cherish, this is America. They have the freedom to make bad films if they so desire...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 44 are women's.

164 lines from women, 205 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 16 men in the cast. 5 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 7 of 454. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 15 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 38% of the words (2,344), men 62% (3,836). Women have 44% 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

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 42% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: John Waters (man)
Written by: John Waters (man)
Produced by: Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr. (man), Mark Tarlov (man), John Fiedler (man)
Shot by: Robert M. Stevens (man)
Edited by: Jeffrey Wolf (man)
Music by: Zoë Poledouris (woman), Basil Poledouris (man)
Production design by: Vincent Peranio (man)
Costumes by: Van Smith (man)
Cast by: Kerry Barden (man), Billy Hopkins (man), Pat Moran (woman), Suzanne Smith Crowley (woman)