Fails the Bechdel test
Dinner for Schmucks
2010. Directed by Jay Roach, written by David Guion and Michael Handelman and Francis Veber.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Tim (Rudd) is a rising executive who "succeeds" in finding the perfect guest, IRS employee Barry (Carell), for his boss's monthly event, a so-called "dinner for idiots," which offers certain advantages to the exec who shows up with the biggest buffoon.
- Released
- 30 Jul 2010
- Genres
- Comedy
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 5.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 56 / 100
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Barry 301 lines, man
- Tim 263 lines, man
- Julie 62 lines, woman
- Darla 36 lines, woman
- Fender 27 lines, man
- Kieran 25 lines, man
- Therman 24 lines, man
- Bobbybrandt 18 lines
- Borman 15 lines, man
- Sid Carmichael 15 lines, man
Full cast, 26 people
- Paul Rudd as Tim Conrad
- Steve Carell as Barry
- Stephanie Szostak as Julie
- Jemaine Clement as Kieran Vollard
- Zach Galifianakis as Therman
- Lucy Punch as Darla
- Bruce Greenwood as Lance Fender
- David Walliams as Müeller
- Ron Livingston as Caldwell
- Larry Wilmore as Williams
- Kristen Schaal as Susana
- P.J. Byrne as Davenport
- Andrea Savage as Robin
- Nick Kroll as Josh
- Randall Park as Henderson
- Lucy Davenport as Birgit
- Chris O'Dowd as Marco
- Jeff Dunham as Lewis the Ventriloquist
- Octavia Spencer as Madame Nora
- Patrick Fischler as Vincenzo
- Rick Overton as Chuck
- Eric Winzenried as Patrick
- Nicole LaLiberte as Christina - Bird Girl
- Maria Zyrianova as Monique - Bird Girl
- Alex Borstein as Red Hair Woman (uncredited)
- Blanca Soto as Catherine (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 97
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 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 10 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 to 12 | 3 | 18 |
| 13 to 15 | 9 | 13 |
| 16 to 18 | 10 | 12 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 54 |
| 22 to 24 | 10 | 6 |
| 25 to 27 | 3 | 50 |
| 28 to 30 | 8 | 72 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 25 |
| 34 to 36 | 3 | 28 |
| 37 to 39 | 26 | 28 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 18 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 14 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 2 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 5 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 14 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 81 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 8 |
| 61 to 63 | 14 | 53 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 16 |
| 73 to 75 | 9 | 24 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 15 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 25 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 9 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 29 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 41 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 8 |
| 97 to 97 | 9 | 15 |
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, 14 are women's.
112 lines from women, 711 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 16 men in the cast. 4 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 61 of 913.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 178 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (1,084), men 85% (6,164). Women have 14% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
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
0
Two men
70
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jay Roach (man)
- Written by
- David Guion (man), Michael Handelman (man), Jon Vitti (man)
- Produced by
- Jay Roach (man), Walter F. Parkes (man), Laurie MacDonald (woman)
- Shot by
- Jim Denault (man)
- Edited by
- Alan Baumgarten (man), Jon Poll (man)
- Music by
- Theodore Shapiro (man)
- Production design by
- Michael Corenblith (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary E. Vogt (woman)
- Cast by
- Jeanne McCarthy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 8 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lucy Punch 32, Stephanie Szostak 35
Men
Jemaine Clement 36, David Walliams 38, Zach Galifianakis 40, Paul Rudd 41, Ron Livingston 43, Steve Carell 47, Larry Wilmore 48, Bruce Greenwood 53
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $69 million
- Box office
- $86.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 97 scenes and 913 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
