Fails the Bechdel test

Charlie Bartlett

Name: Charlie Bartlett
Released: 2008

2008. Directed by Jon Poll, written by Gustin Nash.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

Although cheerful, friendly, intelligent, well-dressed, authentic and wealthy, Charlie Bartlett has problems. With his father gone and his mother loopy and clueless, he's been expelled from every private school for his victimless crimes. Now he's in a public school getting punched out daily by the school thug. He ever longs to be popular - the go-to guy - and the true crux of his troubles is that he invariably finds the means to this end, whatever that might be. At Western Summit High, he makes peace with his tormentor by going into business with him - listening to kids' problems and selling them prescription drugs. Charlie's a hit, but attraction to Susan (daughter of the school's laissez-faire principal), new security cameras on campus, a student's overdose, and Charlie's open world view all converge to get him in serious trouble. Can this self-made physician possibly heal himself and just be a kid?

Released: 22 Feb 2008
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 54 / 100
Awards: 1 win total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Charlie 304 lines, man
Principal Gardner 100 lines, man
Susan 64 lines, woman
Mom 49 lines, woman
Murphy 39 lines, man
Henry 29 lines, man
Kip 29 lines, man
Dustin 28 lines, man
Whitney 22 lines, woman
Adam 13 lines, man

Full cast, 39 people

Anton Yelchin as Charlie Bartlett
Robert Downey Jr. as Nathan Gardner
Hope Davis as Marilyn Bartlett
Kat Dennings as Susan Gardner
Tyler Hilton as Murphy Bivens
Mark Rendall as Kip Crombwell
Dylan Taylor as Len Arbuckle
Megan Park as Whitney Drummond
Jonathan Malen as Jordan Sunder
Stephen Young as Dr. Stan Weathers
Ishan Davé as Henry Freemont
Dave Brown as Officer Hansen
Eric Fink as Thomas
Noam Jenkins as Dean West
Lauren Collins as Kelly
Annick Obonsawin as Daisy
Sarah Gadon as Priscilla
Drake as A/V Jones
Michael D'Ascenzo as Scott
Dwayne McLean as Bus Driver
Quancetia Hamilton as Mrs. Albertson
Richard Alan Campbell as Dr. Sam Costell
Kim Roberts as Dr. Linda Jenkins
David Fraser as Dr. Jacob Kaufmann
Marvin Karon as Dr. P. Sarossy
Abigail Bernardez as Cheerleader #1
Laura Jeanes as Cheerleader #2
Annamaria Janice McAndrew as Cheerleader #3
Amelia Tenttave as Len's Girlfriend #1
Annabelle Singson as Len's Girlfriend #2
Julia Cohen as Receptionist
Abby Zotz as Kip's Mom
Maddy Wilde as Spiral Beach Band Member
Dorian Wolf as Spiral Beach Band Member
Airick Woodhead as Spiral Beach Band Member
Daniel Woodhead as Spiral Beach Band Member
Jake Epstein as Dustin Lauderbach
Brendan Murray as Dorm Head
Derek McGrath as Superintendent Sedgwick

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 169

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	9	4
5 to 8	10	10
9 to 12	6	11
13 to 16	8	18
17 to 20	5	14
21 to 24	2	38
25 to 28	1	5
29 to 32	4	4
33 to 36	1	1
37 to 40	2	4
41 to 44	4	11
45 to 48	11	36
49 to 52	5	10
53 to 56	0	31
57 to 60	5	9
61 to 64	0	6
65 to 68	0	20
69 to 72	3	4
73 to 76	1	3
77 to 80	1	0
81 to 84	3	19
85 to 88	23	28
89 to 92	0	7
93 to 96	0	24
97 to 100	2	17
101 to 104	7	25
105 to 108	12	29
109 to 112	1	23
113 to 116	0	48
117 to 120	0	11
121 to 124	10	19
125 to 128	3	10
129 to 132	4	12
133 to 136	13	15
137 to 140	0	9
141 to 144	0	0
145 to 148	0	12
149 to 152	0	0
153 to 156	0	0
157 to 160	4	17
161 to 164	0	31
165 to 168	3	9
169 to 169	0	3

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, 21 are women's.

163 lines from women, 607 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

12 women and 19 men in the cast. 5 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 837. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 90 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 21% of the words (1,792), men 79% (6,720).

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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jon Poll (man)
Written by: Gustin Nash (man)
Produced by: Sidney Kimmel (man), Jay Roach (man), Barron Kidd (gender not listed), David Permut (man)
Shot by: Paul Sarossy (man)
Edited by: Alan Baumgarten (man)
Music by: Christophe Beck (man)
Production design by: Tamara Deverell (woman)
Costumes by: Luis Sequeira (man)
Cast by: David Rubin (man), Richard Hicks (man)