Passes the Bechdel test
It's Complicated
2009. Directed by Nancy Meyers, written by Nancy Meyers.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
36 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 78. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
When brought together at a family event, two exes find themselves oddly attracted to each other after ten years of divorce. Although the couple think that this affair will stay in a different state, it brings itself back to their own city and disrupts their personal lives. While the couple still maintain other romances, they cannot help but to continue with their affair.
- Released
- 25 Dec 2009
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 57 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 8 wins & 15 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jane 359 lines, woman
- Jake 206 lines, man
- Adam 123 lines, man
- Harley 41 lines, man
- Lauren 35 lines, woman
- Gabby 28 lines, woman
- Luke 25 lines, man
- Agness 17 lines, woman
- Hotel Doc 12 lines, man
- Diane 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 83 people
- Meryl Streep as Jane Adler
- Alec Baldwin as Jake Adler
- Steve Martin as Adam Schaffer
- John Krasinski as Harley
- Caitlin FitzGerald as Lauren Adler
- Hunter Parrish as Luke Adler
- Zoe Kazan as Gabby Adler
- Lake Bell as Agness Adler
- Mary Kay Place as Joanne
- Rita Wilson as Trisha
- Ali Wentworth as Diane
- Emjay Anthony as Pedro Adler
- Nora Dunn as Sally
- Bruce Altman as Ted
- Robert Curtis Brown as Peter
- James Patrick Stuart as Dr. Moss
- Peter MacKenzie as Dr. Allen
- Pat Finn as Hotel Doctor
- Heitor Pereira as Party Musician
- Ramin Djawadi as Party Musician
- Ryeland Allison as Party Musician
- Sean Hamrin as Oliver
- Valente Rodriguez as Reynaldo
- Emily Kinney as Waitress
- Amelia Rasche McCarthy as Bakery Manager
- Zack Robidas as Hotel Reception Clerk
- Lisa Masters as Woman in Elevator
- Scott Geyer as Man in Elevator
- Andrew Stewart-Jones as Restaurant Host
- Jon Frazier as Bartender
- Ryan Silverman as Bartender
- Jennifer Restivo as Woman at Bar
- Dana Power as Woman at Bar
- Michael Kopp as Self-Help Narrator (voice)
- Michael Rivera as Eddie
- Jennifer Eatz as Woman at Fertility Clinic
- Blanchard Ryan as Woman at Fertility Clinic
- Geneva Carr as Woman at Fertility Clinic
- Eric Rath as Man at Fertility Clinic
- Philip Coccioletti as Man at Fertility Clinic
- Deidre Goodwin as Fertility Nurse
- Rosalie Ward as Biltmore Reception Clerk
- Jessica St. Clair as Wedding Specialist
- Marina Squerciati as Melanie
- Ricardo Chacon as Police Officer
- Michael Yavnielli as Police Officer
- Robert Adamson as College Kid at Party
- Patrick King Jr. as College Kid at Party
- Donessa Alexander as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Wesley Alfvin as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
- Ava Allan as Christmas Tree Shopper (uncredited)
- Deborah Bowman as Bakery Assistant (uncredited)
- Giovanni Cirfiera as Businessman (uncredited)
- Jimmy Clabots as College Kid at Party (uncredited)
- Debra Lord Cooke as Principal Dancer (uncredited)
- Michelle Liu Coughlin as Woman at Fertility Clinic (uncredited)
- Molly Culver as Adam's Girlfriend in Dream (uncredited)
- Alan Cumming as TV Actor (uncredited)
- Cynthia Daddona as Upscale Farmer's Market Shopper (uncredited)
- Michael Dean as Upscale Café Patron (uncredited)
- Rick Dean as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Shakira Vanise Gamble as Woman at Fertility Clinic (uncredited)
- Daniel Gold as Graduating Student (uncredited)
- Anthony Gusevich as College Graduate (uncredited)
- Meryl Hathaway as Bakery Server (uncredited)
- Rebecca Hyland as Miss Bascom (uncredited)
- Jeremiah Krage as Elevator Man (uncredited)
- Anna Kuchma as Bakery Server (uncredited)
- Janice LaFlam as Graduation Guest (uncredited)
- Anne Lockhart as Party Guest (uncredited)
- John Mitchell as Graduation Guest (uncredited)
- Lauren L. Murray as Bakery Woman (uncredited)
- Matthew Nadu as College Graduate (uncredited)
- Jason Andrew O'Malley as Waiter (uncredited)
- Regina Palian as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Dorota Puzio as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Stephanie Maura Sanchez as Biltmore Lobby Guest (uncredited)
- Derek Schreck as College Student (uncredited)
- Pooja Singh as College Student (uncredited)
- Pleasant Wayne as Resort Wife (uncredited)
- Steven Weisz as Graduation Guest (uncredited)
- Oprah Winfrey as Self (uncredited)
- Meghan Wolf as Waitress (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 78
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 2 | 25 | 12 |
| 3 to 4 | 22 | 6 |
| 5 to 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 to 8 | 15 | 15 |
| 9 to 10 | 15 | 13 |
| 11 to 12 | 25 | 7 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 to 16 | 30 | 32 |
| 17 to 18 | 2 | 2 |
| 19 to 20 | 24 | 26 |
| 21 to 22 | 13 | 17 |
| 23 to 24 | 18 | 19 |
| 25 to 26 | 22 | 4 |
| 27 to 28 | 9 | 19 |
| 29 to 30 | 11 | 10 |
| 31 to 32 | 6 | 6 |
| 33 to 34 | 25 | 25 |
| 35 to 36 | 8 | 8 |
| 37 to 38 | 7 | 6 |
| 39 to 40 | 5 | 5 |
| 41 to 42 | 8 | 7 |
| 43 to 44 | 8 | 21 |
| 45 to 46 | 13 | 15 |
| 47 to 48 | 4 | 2 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 14 | 15 |
| 53 to 54 | 7 | 10 |
| 55 to 56 | 14 | 11 |
| 57 to 58 | 10 | 13 |
| 59 to 60 | 9 | 13 |
| 61 to 62 | 8 | 8 |
| 63 to 64 | 16 | 13 |
| 65 to 66 | 12 | 11 |
| 67 to 68 | 8 | 9 |
| 69 to 70 | 16 | 24 |
| 71 to 72 | 9 | 12 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 to 76 | 15 | 13 |
| 77 to 78 | 13 | 13 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
SALLY: Thank God. JANE: I thought maybe you were drifting.
JANE: -- Only a week... SALLY: Aw, that's it? JANE: I know, I hate it. Well... Congrats again... Great party...
JANE: Yeah, I have some -- stuff I have to get done tonight for work... I'll see you two in New York. AGNESS: Absolutely. Lookin' forward to it. JANE: Good. Well.... AGNESS: -- Jane, what are you wearing to the graduation?
LAUREN: Gabby, stop...you're never going to fit all this in... you can come back for the rest tomorrow. GABBY: I can't come back t--- GABBY: Oh, God...that's all my clothes.
JANE: Gabby, you're leaving now? I thought you were going in the morning? GABBY: I know but my friends are all there and they wanted me to come tonight. JANE: But honey, it's gonna get dark soon. You can't see out the back window. It's Saturday night. People will be on the road drinking... LAUREN: Mom, she'll be there in a couple of hours, she'll be fine.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 51 are women's.
469 lines from women, 443 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
36 women and 31 men in the cast. 10 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 935.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 9 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 50% of the words (4,702), men 50% (4,618). Women have 51% 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
Two women
35
Two men
35
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 54% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Nancy Meyers (woman)
- Written by
- Nancy Meyers (woman)
- Produced by
- Nancy Meyers (woman), Scott Rudin (man)
- Shot by
- John Toll (man)
- Edited by
- David Moritz (man), Joe Hutshing (man)
- Music by
- Hans Zimmer (man), Heitor Pereira (man)
- Production design by
- Jon Hutman (man)
- Costumes by
- Sonia Grande (woman)
- Cast by
- Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
8 women, 2 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 2 men
-
Art
1 women, 4 men
-
Directing
3 women, 2 men
-
Other crew
1 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 43 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Caitlin FitzGerald 26, Zoe Kazan 26, Lake Bell 30, Rita Wilson 53, Meryl Streep 60, Mary Kay Place 62
Men
Hunter Parrish 22, John Krasinski 30, Alec Baldwin 51, Steve Martin 64
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $85 million
- Box office
- $219 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 78 scenes and 935 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
