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Passes the Bechdel test

Death to Smoochy

2002. Directed by Danny DeVito, written by Adam Resnick.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    10 women characters. 5 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 117.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

Poster for Death to Smoochy

The film

Fired in disgrace, kids show host Randolph Smiley finds himself out on the street, while his replacement Sheldon Mopes, finds himself on the fast track to success with a new hit show as the proud purple rhino Smoochy. But things take a turn for the worst when Sheldon finds out that some of the people that he works with, and some he doesn't know he's working for, are all in it for the money. Meanwhile, Randolph is slowly turning insane with his only thoughts focusing on killing Smoochy and getting back to his life of luxury.

Released
29 Mar 2002
Genres
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
6.3 / 10
Metascore
38 / 100
Awards
2 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Sheldon 190 lines, man
  2. Randolph 127 lines, man
  3. Nora 125 lines, woman
  4. Burke 59 lines, man
  5. Stokes 46 lines, man
  6. Tommy 33 lines, woman
  7. Angelo 28 lines, man
  8. Smoochy 28 lines, man
  9. Merv 23 lines, man
  10. Spinner 21 lines, man
Full cast, 78 people
  • Robin Williams as Rainbow Randolph
  • Edward Norton as Sheldon Mopes / Smoochy
  • Catherine Keener as Nora Wells
  • Danny DeVito as Burke Bennett
  • Jon Stewart as Marion Frank Stokes
  • Pam Ferris as Tommy Cotter
  • Danny Woodburn as Angelo Pike
  • Michael Rispoli as Spinner Dunn
  • Harvey Fierstein as Merv Green
  • Vincent Schiavelli as Buggy Ding Dong
  • Craig Eldridge as Husband
  • Judy White as Wife
  • Tim MacMenamin as Danny
  • Bruce McFee as Roy
  • Glen Cross as Jimmy
  • Bill Lake as Bartender
  • Nick Taylor as Henry the Thug
  • Richard Cocchiaro as Mitch the Thug
  • Tracey Walter as Ben Franks
  • Louis Giambalvo as Sonny Gordon
  • Colin Moult as Rhinette / Krinkle Kid #1
  • Nikolai Tichtchenko as Rhinette / Krinkle Kid #2
  • Martin Klebba as Rhinette/Krinkle #3
  • Tonya Reneé Banks as Rhinette / Krinkle Kid #4
  • Christy McGinity Gibel as Rhinette / Krinkle Kid #5
  • Philip Craig as Senator
  • Natasha Kinne as Smoochy's Secretary
  • Richard Hamilton as Old Vagrant
  • Shawn Byfield as Rickets
  • Todd Graff as Skip Kleinman
  • Melissa DiMarco as Tara
  • Dan Duran as Hunter
  • Michael Copeman as Reporter #1
  • James Carroll as Reporter #2
  • Phillip Jarrett as Reporter #3
  • Suzanne Leonard Feliz as Reporter #4
  • Thomas Lyons as Reporter #5
  • Angela Bullock as Reporter #6
  • Robert M. Sussman as Reporter #7
  • George Blumenthal as Reporter #8
  • Matthew Arkin as Save The Rhino Man
  • Hugo Jansuzian as Hispanic Dad
  • Silvia Rojas as Hispanic Mom
  • Mario Andres Torre as Hispanic Boy
  • Sabrina Jansuzian as Hispanic Girl
  • John 'Cha Cha' Ciarcia as Autograph Man
  • Fred Scialla as Man in Crowd
  • Adam Bryant as Man in Crowd #2
  • Richard Ziman as Man in Crowd #3
  • Frank Anello as NYPD
  • Samantha Cordero as Little Girl
  • Peter Keleghan as News Anchor
  • Rothaford Gray as Ellis
  • David Lawrence Brown as McCall
  • Gerry Quigley as Ian
  • James Binkley as Cop #1
  • Dylan Roberts as Stagehand
  • Vito Rezza as Lead Cop
  • Lou Cantres as Little Girl's Dad
  • John Cleland as John
  • Lauren Flanigan as Opera Diva
  • Cara Wakelin as Princess
  • Ted Kavouris as Candy Seller
  • Tony Ashmore as New Yorker on the Street (uncredited)
  • Antonio Cordero as Rainbow Randolph Friend (uncredited)
  • Jonah Falcon as Man (uncredited)
  • Frank Falcone as Man in crowd (uncredited)
  • Katie Finneran as Woman in Crowd (uncredited)
  • Edie Inksetter as Molly (uncredited)
  • Greg Korin as Smoochy Fan (uncredited)
  • Peter Kosaka as Takeshi Yamashita (uncredited)
  • Danny LeGare as Newsstand Clerk (uncredited)
  • Richard D. Leko as Smoochy Land Purple & White Monkey Keyboard Player (uncredited)
  • Peter Loung as Blue (uncredited)
  • Robert Mauzell as Security Guard at Methadone Clinic (uncredited)
  • Felicia Peluso as Woman in Park with Baby Carriage (uncredited)
  • Martin Pfefferkorn as Meth Addict at Clinic (uncredited)
  • Robert Prosky as Network Chairman (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 117

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 300
4 to 629
7 to 9111
10 to 121517
13 to 151033
16 to 18108
19 to 21023
22 to 2449
25 to 27224
28 to 30140
31 to 3307
34 to 361413
37 to 39315
40 to 42214
43 to 451641
46 to 48016
49 to 5108
52 to 5402
55 to 57610
58 to 6004
61 to 631627
64 to 6627
67 to 69214
70 to 72228
73 to 75023
76 to 78115
79 to 81721
82 to 8400
85 to 8705
88 to 9069
91 to 93620
94 to 9659
97 to 991446
100 to 102012
103 to 105010
106 to 10804
109 to 11159
112 to 1141015
115 to 11712

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
TOMMY: Don't worry. Sometimes even a rat deserves a little mercy. NORA: Bus backfire.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.

163 lines from women, 580 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 46 men in the cast. 5 women and 30 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 7 of 785. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 48 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 17% of the words (1,855), men 83% (8,914). Women have 22% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Danny DeVito (man)
Written by
Adam Resnick (man)
Produced by
Andrew Lazar (man), Peter Macgregor-Scott (man)
Shot by
Anastas N. Michos (man)
Edited by
Jon Poll (man)
Music by
David Newman (man)
Production design by
Howard Cummings (man)
Costumes by
Jane Ruhm (woman)
Cast by
Margery Simkin (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    1 women, 14 men, 2 not listed

  • Production

    2 women, 5 men, 7 not listed

  • Other crew

    1 women, 10 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Editing

    1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 48 on average. Men: 45 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Catherine Keener 43, Pam Ferris 53

Men

Edward Norton 32, Danny Woodburn 37, Jon Stewart 39, Michael Rispoli 41, Harvey Fierstein 49, Robin Williams 50, Vincent Schiavelli 53, Danny DeVito 57

Exhibit H: the money

It made 15% of what it cost.

Budget
$55 million
Box office
$8.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 117 scenes and 785 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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