Fails the Bechdel test

Honey Boy

Name: Honey Boy
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by Alma Har'el, written by Shia LaBeouf.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
8 women characters. 3 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 0 out of 3.

The film

From a screenplay by Shia LaBeouf, based on his own experiences, award-winning filmmaker Alma Har'el brings to life a young actor's stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father through cinema and dreams. Fictionalizing his childhood's ascent to stardom, and subsequent adult crash-landing into rehab and recovery, Har'el casts Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges as Otis Lort, navigating different stages in a frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the daring and therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon. Artist and musician FKA Twigs makes her feature-film debut, playing neighbor and kindred spirit to the younger Otis in their garden-court motel home. Har'el's feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as medicine and imagination as hope.

Released: 27 Nov 2019
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 73 / 100
Awards: 10 wins & 41 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

James 274 lines, man
Otis 223 lines, man
Tom 33 lines, man
Dr. Moreno 25 lines, woman
Alec 22 lines, man
Percy 9 lines, man
T.V. Dad 9 lines, man
Little Q 8 lines
Pam 8 lines, woman
Craig 6 lines, man

Full cast, 34 people

Shia LaBeouf as James Lort
Lucas Hedges as Otis Lort (22 Years Old)
Noah Jupe as Otis Lort (12 Years Old)
Byron Bowers as Percy
Laura San Giacomo as Dr. Moreno
FKA twigs as Shy Girl
Natasha Lyonne as Mom
Maika Monroe as Sandra
Clifton Collins Jr. as Tom
Scar as Tiny
Martin Starr as Alec
Haylee Sanchez as Working Girl 1
Giovanni Lopes as Rehab Nurse
Dorian Brown Pham as Pam
Greta Jung as AD
Craig Stark as Craig
Graham Clarke as Bucky (TV Dad)
Kevin Dunigan as Cop
Carlos Rosendo as Carlos
Leana Chavez as Working Girl 2
Paulina Lule as Person in Car
Ben Maccabee as Loud Man
Chala Savino as Loud Woman
Debra Jones as Mama DJ
Isabel Wang as Otis' Fan
Sandra Rosko as Hug Circle (uncredited)
Kara C. Roberts as Female Jogger (uncredited)
Eli Santana as AA Member (uncredited)
Ludwig Manukian as Hotel Manager (uncredited)
Zack Whyel as Trailer Park Drunk (uncredited)
Kingston Vernes as Benny (uncredited)
Bryan Sapphire as Biker (uncredited)
Autumn Barlow as Dancer (uncredited)
Al Burke as Biker (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

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

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 126

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	1
4 to 6	1	3
7 to 9	0	3
10 to 12	0	0
13 to 15	18	29
16 to 18	0	0
19 to 21	1	26
22 to 24	0	32
25 to 27	0	66
28 to 30	5	9
31 to 33	0	4
34 to 36	0	0
37 to 39	0	2
40 to 42	0	1
43 to 45	0	23
46 to 48	0	31
49 to 51	1	17
52 to 54	0	54
55 to 57	0	8
58 to 60	0	0
61 to 63	0	28
64 to 66	0	9
67 to 69	0	1
70 to 72	0	0
73 to 75	0	19
76 to 78	3	19
79 to 81	0	12
82 to 84	0	0
85 to 87	0	0
88 to 90	0	5
91 to 93	0	25
94 to 96	4	48
97 to 99	0	31
100 to 102	7	17
103 to 105	0	0
106 to 108	0	0
109 to 111	0	0
112 to 114	1	45
115 to 117	0	4
118 to 120	0	4
121 to 123	0	1
124 to 126	0	7

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, 7 are women's.

41 lines from women, 584 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

8 women and 18 men in the cast. 3 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 642. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 144 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 5% of the words (339), men 95% (6,298). Women have 7% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

8 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Alma Har'el (woman)
Written by: Shia LaBeouf (man)
Produced by: Anita Gou (gender not listed), Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (man), Daniela Taplin Lundberg (woman), Chris Leggett (man), Alma Har'el (woman)
Shot by: Natasha Braier (woman)
Edited by: Dominic LaPerriere (gender not listed), Monica Salazar (woman)
Music by: Alex Somers (man)
Production design by: JC Molina (man)
Costumes by: Natalie O'Brien (woman)
Cast by: Jennifer Venditti (woman), Chelsea Ellis Bloch (woman), John Papsidera (man)