Passes the Bechdel test

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Name: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Released: 1989

1989. Directed by Joe Johnston, written by Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna and Ed Naha.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 143.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

On the brink of perfecting his state-of-the-art matter-shrinking machine, the suburban paterfamilias and indefatigable inventor, Professor Wayne Szalinski, realizes that his device truly works, when it zaps both his kids and next-door neighbors' sons. Now, to return to the relative safety of their home while being reduced to a mere quarter-inch size, they must venture out into the dense and perilous landscapes of their now-immense backyard: a hostile environment where nearly everything spells trouble. Can they exit the green maze of grass in one piece?

Released: 23 Jun 1989
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.5 / 10
Metascore: 63 / 100
Awards: Won 1 BAFTA Award. 2 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Ron 134 lines, man
Little Russ 132 lines, man
Amy 124 lines, woman
Wayne 110 lines, man
Nick 82 lines, man
Don 68 lines, man
Big Russ 55 lines, man
Diane 44 lines, woman
Mae 15 lines, woman
Frederickson 6 lines, man

Full cast, 21 people

Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski
Matt Frewer as Big Russ Thompson
Marcia Strassman as Diane Szalinski
Kristine Sutherland as Mae Thompson
Thomas Wilson Brown as Little Russ Thompson
Jared Rushton as Ronald Thompson
Amy O'Neill as Amy Szalinski
Robert Oliveri as Nick Szalinski
Carl Steven as Tommy Pervis
Mark L. Taylor as Don Forrester
Kimmy Robertson as Gloria Forrester
Lou Cutell as Dr. Brainard
Craig Richard Nelson as Professor Frederickson
Laura Waterbury as Female Cop
Trevor Galtress as Male Cop
Martin Aylett as Harold Boorstein
Janet Sunderland as Lauren Boorstein
Frank Welker as Special Vocal Effects (Voice)
Patrick Brown as Employee (uncredited)
Isabel del Puerto as Women (uncredited)
Sammy as Quark the Dog (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 143

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	0
4 to 6	1	8
7 to 9	6	19
10 to 12	16	7
13 to 15	5	6
16 to 18	3	19
19 to 21	6	59
22 to 24	7	19
25 to 27	6	28
28 to 30	0	7
31 to 33	4	10
34 to 36	2	7
37 to 39	0	2
40 to 42	8	16
43 to 45	7	8
46 to 48	1	19
49 to 51	4	20
52 to 54	5	11
55 to 57	0	4
58 to 60	8	9
61 to 63	2	8
64 to 66	8	6
67 to 69	1	4
70 to 72	3	3
73 to 75	2	12
76 to 78	7	41
79 to 81	7	7
82 to 84	10	12
85 to 87	6	15
88 to 90	2	7
91 to 93	4	27
94 to 96	6	18
97 to 99	4	31
100 to 102	1	11
103 to 105	8	11
106 to 108	2	1
109 to 111	1	1
112 to 114	0	0
115 to 117	3	1
118 to 120	2	14
121 to 123	1	17
124 to 126	2	4
127 to 129	0	5
130 to 132	3	20
133 to 135	0	6
136 to 138	4	15
139 to 141	0	13
142 to 143	5	23

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.

MAE: Begonias would be nice. DIANE: I always meant to ••• but there never was the time ••••

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.

183 lines from women, 611 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 13 men in the cast. 3 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 817. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 33 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 24% of the words (2,593), men 76% (8,200). Women have 23% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Joe Johnston (man)
Written by: Ed Naha (man), Tom Schulman (man)
Story by: Stuart Gordon (man), Ed Naha (man), Brian Yuzna (man)
Produced by: Penney Finkelman Cox (woman)
Shot by: Hiro Narita (man)
Edited by: Michael A. Stevenson (man)
Music by: James Horner (man)
Production design by: Gregg Fonseca (man)
Costumes by: Carol Brolaski (gender not listed)
Cast by: Mike Fenton (man), Judy Taylor (woman), Lynda Gordon (woman)

The crew, department by department

Sound

2 women, 13 men, 4 not listed
Art

2 women, 7 men
Production

3 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
Writing

0 women, 6 men
Other crew

1 women, 4 men
Directing

3 women, 1 men
Costume & Make-Up

0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 31 on average. Men: 23 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Amy O'Neill 17, Kristine Sutherland 34, Marcia Strassman 41

Men

Robert Oliveri 11, Carl Steven 14, Jared Rushton 15, Thomas Wilson Brown 16, Matt Frewer 31, Rick Moranis 36, Mark L. Taylor 38

Exhibit H: the money

It made 12.4 times what it cost.

Budget: $18 million
Box office: $223 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 143 scenes and 817 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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