Passes the Bechdel test

Jerry Maguire

Name: Jerry Maguire
Released: 1996

1996. Directed by Cameron Crowe, written by Cameron Crowe.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
50 women characters. 12 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 170.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a successful sports agent. The biggest clients, the respect, a beautiful fiancée, he has it all. Until one night he questions his purpose. His place in the world, and finally comes to terms with what's wrong with his career and life. Recording all of his thoughts in a mission statement, Jerry feels he has a new lease on life. Unfortunately his opinions aren't met with enthusiasm from his superiors and after dishonorably being stripped of his high earning clients and elite status within the agency, Jerry steps out into the sports business armed with only one volatile client, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), and the only person with belief in his abilities, Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger), with the impossible task of rebuilding what he once had. Along the way, he faces the harsh truth which he'd ignored in the past and a host of hardships that he'd never faced before.

Released: 13 Dec 1996
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 77 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 26 wins & 41 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Jerry 390 lines, man
Dorothy 163 lines, woman
Tidwell 116 lines, man
Avery 41 lines, woman
Marcee 34 lines, woman
Sugar 34 lines, man
Laurel 29 lines, woman
Ray 25 lines, man
Woman 20 lines, woman
Cush 17 lines, man

Full cast, 133 people

Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire
Renée Zellweger as Dorothy Boyd
Cuba Gooding Jr. as Rod Tidwell
Kelly Preston as Avery Bishop
Jerry O'Connell as Frank Cushman
Jay Mohr as Bob Sugar
Regina King as Marcee Tidwell
Bonnie Hunt as Laurel Boyd
Jonathan Lipnicki as Ray Boyd
Todd Louiso as Chad the Nanny
Mark Pellington as Bill Dooler
Jeremy Suarez as Tyson Tidwell
Jared Jussim as Dicky Fox
Benjamin Kimball Smith as Keith Cushman
Ingrid Beer as Anne-Louise
Jann Wenner as Scully
Nada Despotovich as Wendy
Ali Wentworth as Bobbi Fallon
Aries Spears as Tee Pee
Kelly Coffield Park as Jan
Alice Marie Crowe as Alice
Larina Adamson as Women's Group Member
Winnie Holzman as Women's Group Member
Diana Jordan as Women's Group Member
Susan Norfleet as Women's Group Member
Susan Pingleton as Women's Group Member
Cha Cha Sandoval-McMahon as Women's Group Member
Hynden Walch as Women's Group Member
Glenn Frey as Dennis Wilburn
Donal Logue as Rick (Junior Agent)
Tom Gallop as Ben
Beaumont Bacon as Cleo
Lisa Amsterdam as Patricia Logan
Angela Goethals as Kathy Sanders
Leslie Upson as Flight Attendant
Rick Johnson as John Swenson
Lightfield Lewis as Room Service Waiter
Jerry Cantrell as Jesus of CopyMat
Toby Huss as Steve Remo
Drake Bell as Jesse Remo
Christine Cavanaugh as Mrs. Remo
Russel Lunday as Doctor
Eric Stoltz as Ethan Valhere
Lamont Johnson as Weepy Athlete
Brent Barry as Calvin Nack
Charlie Cronin as Hootie Fan
Theo Greenly as Hootie Fan
Rod Tate as 'Baja' Brunard
Danny Rimmer as Sad Autograph Boy
Michael James Johnson as Clark Hodd
Jordan Ross as Art Stallings
Brandon Christianson as Young Golfer
Jerry Ziesmer as Trainer
Kirsten Krueger as Draft Reporter
Shannon Thornton as Pressbox Columnist
Luis Damian as Mariachi Band
Jesus Alberto Guzman as Mariachi Band
Juan Arnoldo Morales as Mariachi Band
Alberto Alfavo as Mariachi Band
Andrea Ferrell as Woman in Elevator
Anthony Natale as Man in Elevator
David Ursin as General Manager
Thomas J. Reilly as Reverend
Reagan Gomez-Preston as Tidwell's Cousin
Jim Moffatt as NFL Guest
Leo Zick as NFL Guest
Klair Bybee as NFL Guest
Stan Sessoms as Shower Man
Gale Hillman as Locker Room Athlete
Heather Cheney as Idealized Kissing Wife
Dennis Fitzgerald as Idealized Kissing Husband
Lucy Liu as Former girlfriend
Stephanie Furst as Former Girlfriend
Justina Vail Evans as Former Girlfriend
Samantha Smith as Former Girlfriend
Ivana Miličević as Former Girlfriend
Lisa Rotondi as Former Girlfriend
Lisa Stahl as Former Girlfriend
Emily Procter as Former Girlfriend
Amaryllis Borrego as Former Girlfriend
Stacey A. Snyder as Former Girlfriend
Lauren Parker as Former Girlfriend
Lisa Ann Hadley as Former Girlfriend
Kymberly Kalil as Former Girlfriend
Alison Armitage as Former Girlfriend
Rebecca Rigg as Former Girlfriend
Golde Starger as Former Girlfriend
Roy Firestone as Roy Firestone
Al Michaels as Al Michaels
Dan Dierdorf as Dan Dierdorf
Frank Gifford as Frank Gifford
Mel Kiper as Mel Kiper
Jeffrey Lurie as Jeffrey Lurie
Drew Rosenhaus as Drew Rosenhaus
Richie Kotite as Richie Kotite
Tim McDonald as Tim McDonald
Mike Tirico as Mike Tirico
Wayne Fontes as Wayne Fontes
Evelyn Fontes as Evelyn Fontes
Mike White as Mike White
Johnnie Morton as Johnnie Morton
Rick Mirer as Rick Mirer
Drew Bledsoe as Drew Bledsoe
Rob Moore as Rob Moore
Ki-Jana Carter as Ki-Jana Carter
Herman Moore as Herman Moore
Art Monk as Art Monk
Troy Aikman as Troy Aikman
Katarina Witt as Katarina Witt
Dean Biasucci as Dean Biasucci
Warren Moon as Warren Moon
Kerry Collins as Kerry Collins
Erica Sorgi as Erica Sorgi
Tom Friend as Tom Friend
Dallas Malloy as Dallas Malloy
Jim Irsay as Jim Irsay
Meg Irsay as Meg Irsay
Beau Bridges as Matt Cushman (uncredited)
Greg Bronson as Sports Agent (uncredited)
Jacqueline Collen as Girl (uncredited)
Luanne Crawford as Press Box Reporter (uncredited)
Joanna Daniels as Former Girlfriend (uncredited)
Micki Duran as Dancer (uncredited)
Mia Korf as Former Girlfriend (uncredited)
Gina La Piana as Former Girlfriend (uncredited)
Valerie Richards as Video Girl (uncredited)
Summer Sanders as Summer Sanders (uncredited)
June Saruwatari as Reporter (uncredited)
Iva Franks-Singer as Airplane Passenger (uncredited)
Carolyn Renee Smith as Airplane Passenger (uncredited)
Lynnanne Zager as Answering Machine (voice) (uncredited)
Kerrie Friend as Woman at Bar (uncredited)
Leigh Steinberg as Leigh Steinberg

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 170

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 4	0	16
5 to 8	1	13
9 to 12	0	9
13 to 16	10	7
17 to 20	41	35
21 to 24	9	47
25 to 28	0	0
29 to 32	0	2
33 to 36	0	4
37 to 40	2	3
41 to 44	3	3
45 to 48	1	6
49 to 52	0	22
53 to 56	3	14
57 to 60	7	5
61 to 64	25	9
65 to 68	0	16
69 to 72	13	14
73 to 76	8	24
77 to 80	0	4
81 to 84	0	58
85 to 88	18	20
89 to 92	7	17
93 to 96	18	15
97 to 100	19	35
101 to 104	0	35
105 to 108	13	8
109 to 112	19	13
113 to 116	10	6
117 to 120	1	4
121 to 124	25	25
125 to 128	7	39
129 to 132	5	14
133 to 136	2	6
137 to 140	6	46
141 to 144	18	15
145 to 148	0	4
149 to 152	0	16
153 to 156	3	5
157 to 160	7	12
161 to 164	1	5
165 to 168	4	4
169 to 170	0	11

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.

DOROTHY: Aw, shut up. You had me at hello. JAN: I think we'd better go...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.

306 lines from women, 666 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

50 women and 66 men in the cast. 12 women and 25 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 17 of 992. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 71 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 33% of the words (3,819), men 67% (7,600). Women have 31% 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 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Cameron Crowe (man)
Written by: Cameron Crowe (man)
Produced by: James L. Brooks (man), Cameron Crowe (man), Laurence Mark (man), Richard Sakai (man)
Shot by: Janusz Kamiński (man)
Edited by: Joe Hutshing (man)
Music by: Nancy Wilson (woman)
Production design by: Stephen J. Lineweaver (man)
Costumes by: Betsy Heimann (woman)
Cast by: Gail Levin (woman)