Passes the Bechdel test

Horrible Bosses

Name: Horrible Bosses
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Seth Gordon, written by Michael Markowitz and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 2 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 120.
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

Nick hates his boss, mostly because he's expected to work from before sunrise to after sunset and his boss, Mr. Harken, calls him out for being a minute late and blackmails him so he can't quit. Dale hates his boss, Dr. Julia Harris, because she makes unwelcome sexual advances when he's about to get married. But Dale is on that pesky list of child-offenders so he can't quit. Kurt actually likes his job and his boss--well, up until his boss dies and the boss's coked-out, psychopathic son takes over. But who would be crazy enough to quit their jobs in such poor economic times? Instead, Nick, Dale, and Kurt drunkenly and hypothetically discuss how to kill their bosses, and before they know it, they've hired a murder consultant to help them pull off the three deeds.

Released: 08 Jul 2011
Genres: Comedy, Crime
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 57 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 14 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Kurt 224 lines, man
Nick 223 lines, man
Dale 215 lines, man
Harken 73 lines, man
Julia 58 lines, woman
Cocksucker Jones 47 lines, man
Pellit 20 lines, man
Jack 13 lines, man
Hagan 11 lines, man
Kenny 11 lines, man

Full cast, 37 people

Jason Bateman as Nick Hendricks
Charlie Day as Dale Arbus
Jason Sudeikis as Kurt Buckman
Kevin Spacey as Dave Harken
Jennifer Aniston as Julia Harris
Colin Farrell as Bobby Pellitt
Jamie Foxx as Motherfucker Jones
Donald Sutherland as Jack Pellit
P.J. Byrne as Kenny Sommerfeld
Julie Bowen as Rhonda Harken
Lindsay Sloane as Stacey
Wendell Pierce as Detective Hagan
Ron White as Detective Samson
John Francis Daley as Carter
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex as Jamie
Steve Wiebe as Thomas
Michael Albala as Mr. Anderton
Jennifer Hasty as Kurt's Co-Worker
Reginald Ballard as Kurt's Co-Worker
George Back as Kurt's Co-Worker
Barry Livingston as Kurt's Co-Worker
Celia Finkelstein as Margie Emerman
Diana Toshiko as Bobby's Girl
Carla Maria Cadotte as Bobby's Girl
Scott Rosendall as Hank Preston
Dave Sheridan as Bartender (Bradford's Bar)
Chad L. Coleman as Bartender (Dive Bar)
Ioan Gruffudd as Wetwork Man
Brian George as Atmanand
Peter Breitmayer as Pharmacist
Isaiah Mustafa as Officer Wilkens
Bob Newhart as Lou Sherman
Seth Gordon as Ralph Peterberg
Jimm Giannini as Harken Party Guest
Dawn Frances as Harken Party Guest
Andrew Lukich as Cop #1
Christina Blevins as Cute Girl at Bar (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 120

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	0	1
7 to 9	0	0
10 to 12	0	4
13 to 15	0	39
16 to 18	3	2
19 to 21	25	42
22 to 24	0	45
25 to 27	0	41
28 to 30	12	14
31 to 33	7	66
34 to 36	10	79
37 to 39	0	15
40 to 42	0	29
43 to 45	0	76
46 to 48	0	10
49 to 51	0	26
52 to 54	0	3
55 to 57	0	9
58 to 60	0	8
61 to 63	0	18
64 to 66	0	10
67 to 69	0	30
70 to 72	0	29
73 to 75	0	2
76 to 78	0	5
79 to 81	0	13
82 to 84	0	5
85 to 87	0	20
88 to 90	0	0
91 to 93	0	16
94 to 96	0	38
97 to 99	0	40
100 to 102	0	24
103 to 105	0	24
106 to 108	0	12
109 to 111	0	0
112 to 114	10	54
115 to 117	5	5
118 to 120	6	15

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.

JULIA: I invited her. STACY: She called and said now that we're engaged, she wanted to offer me free dental work. And you know I've had that loose filling for a while. I… JULIA: It's my pleasure. You're part of the family now. STACY: Why not?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 8 are women's.

78 lines from women, 869 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 26 men in the cast. 2 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 45 of 964. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 557 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 8% of the words (775), men 92% (9,075).

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 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Seth Gordon (man)
Written by: John Francis Daley (man), Jonathan Goldstein (man), Michael Markowitz (man)
Story by: Michael Markowitz (man)
Produced by: Brett Ratner (man), Jay Stern (man)
Shot by: David Hennings (man)
Edited by: Peter Teschner (man)
Music by: Christopher Lennertz (man)
Production design by: Shepherd Frankel (man)
Costumes by: Carol Ramsey (woman)
Cast by: Sarah Katzman (woman), Lisa Beach (woman)