Fails the Bechdel test
Jingle All the Way
1996. Directed by Brian Levant, written by Randy Kornfield.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
18 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Howard Langston, a mattress salesman, is constantly busy at his job, and he also constantly disappoints his son, Jamie. After he misses Jamie's karate exposition, he tries hard to come up with a way to make it up to him. He says that all he wants for Christmas is a Turbo Man action figure. Unfortunately for Howard, it is Christmas Eve, and every store is sold out. Now Howard must travel all over town and compete with everybody else including a mailman named Myron Larabee to find one, and to make it to the Holiday Wintertainment Parade, which will feature Turbo Man.
- Released
- 22 Nov 1996
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Family
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 5.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 34 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Howard 120 lines, man
- Boward 88 lines, man
- Liz 88 lines, woman
- Jamie 74 lines, man
- Ted 69 lines, man
- Johnny 25 lines, man
- Mall Santa 17 lines, man
- Myron 16 lines, man
- Gale 10 lines, man
- Store Manager 9 lines
Full cast, 86 people
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Howard Langston
- Sinbad as Myron Larabee
- Phil Hartman as Ted Maltin
- Jake Lloyd as Jamie Langston
- Rita Wilson as Liz Langston
- Robert Conrad as Officer Hummell
- Martin Mull as D.J.
- Jim Belushi as Mall Santa
- E.J. De la Pena as Johnny
- Laraine Newman as First Lady
- Justin Chapman as Billy
- Harvey Korman as President
- Richard Moll as Dementor
- Daniel Riordan as Turbo Man
- Jeff L. Deist as T.V. Booster / Puppeteer
- Nada Despotovich as Margaret
- Ruth Afton Hjelmgren as Single Mother Judy
- Caroline Kaiser as Single Mother Mary
- Samuel B. Morris as Sensei
- Shawn Hamilton as Sensei Assistant
- Lewis Dauber as Toy Store Manager
- Bill Schoppert as Father at Toy Store
- Courtney Goodell as Little Girl at Toy Store
- George Fisher as Daring Shopper
- Chris Parnell as Toy Store Sales Clerk
- Patrick Richwood as Toy Store Co-Worker
- Kate McGregor-Stewart as Toy Store Customer
- Marcus Toji as Little Boy with Car Remote
- Steve Hendrickson as Father on Phone #1
- Mo Collins as Mother on Phone
- Peter Syvertsen as Father on Phone #2
- John Rothman as Mall Toy Store Manager
- Christopher Slater as Mall Toy Store Employee #1
- Robert Southgate as Mall Toy Store Employee #2
- Allison Benner as Toddler
- Hayley Benner as Toddler
- Sandra K. Horner as Toddler's Angry Mom
- Phyllis Wright as Angry Mom #2
- Marvette Knight as Angry Mom #3
- Danny Woodburn as Tony the Elf
- Bruce Bohne as Santa at Warehouse Door
- Paul Wight as Huge Santa
- Ron Gene Browne as Santa in Warehouse
- Robert Tee Clark as Santa in Warehouse
- James Riddle as Santa in Warehouse
- Bill Wilson as Santa in Warehouse
- Alan Blumenfeld as Cop at Santa's Warehouse
- Traci Christofore as Little Girl Petting Reindeer
- Sandra Lee-Oian Thomas as Mother in Neighborhood
- Martin Ruben as Father in Neighborhood
- Nick LaTour as Counterman
- Peter Breitmayer as Sparky
- Phil Morris as Gale Force
- Marianne Muellerleile as Tow Truck Driver
- Amy Pietz as Liza Tisch
- Judy Sladky as Snoopy
- Walter von Huene as Taxi Driver
- Steve Van Wormer as Turbo Man Float Parade Worker
- Curtis Armstrong as Chain Smoking Booster
- Jim Meskimen as Police Officer at Parade
- Martin Valinsky as Police Officer Escorting Myron
- Rochelle Vallese as Girl at Parade
- Deena Driskill as Barbie
- Spencer Klein as Kid in Turbo Man Commercial
- Danny Pritchett as Kid in Turbo Man Commercial
- Rick R. Johnson as Kareem
- Marc Ambrose as Balloon Wrangler (uncredited)
- Greg Bronson as Toy Store Shopper (uncredited)
- Sarah Cameron as Christmas Caroler (uncredited)
- Susan Chambers as Frantic Shopper (uncredited)
- Matthew Feeney as Curious Man (uncredited)
- Anthony Fitzgerald as Christmas Caroler (uncredited)
- Trish Gates as Store Clerk (uncredited)
- Dan Griffin as Spectator (uncredited)
- Brian Johnson as Christmas Caroler (uncredited)
- Larissa Lowthorp as Silvia
- David Andrew Nash as Christmas Caroler (uncredited)
- Phaedra Neitzel as Santa's Helper (uncredited)
- Jane Plank as Christmas Caroler (uncredited)
- Yeardley Smith as Woman Who Flirts with Howie (uncredited)
- Bobby Sussman as Parade Watcher (uncredited)
- Joel Thingvall as Toy Store Shopper (uncredited)
- Verne Troyer as Mini Santa (uncredited)
- Carl Washington as Parade Watcher (uncredited)
- Ryan Wotherspoon as Playground Attendant (uncredited)
- Richard Steven Horvitz as Demon Team (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 16% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 85
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 5 | 27 |
| 5 to 6 | 7 | 14 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 9 to 10 | 9 | 46 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 17 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 8 |
| 15 to 16 | 1 | 6 |
| 17 to 18 | 4 | 22 |
| 19 to 20 | 23 | 18 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 18 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 9 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 8 |
| 27 to 28 | 2 | 22 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 23 |
| 31 to 32 | 11 | 31 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 3 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 12 |
| 37 to 38 | 9 | 10 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 32 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 4 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 5 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 9 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 6 |
| 53 to 54 | 2 | 5 |
| 55 to 56 | 2 | 1 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 3 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 62 | 2 | 2 |
| 63 to 64 | 6 | 8 |
| 65 to 66 | 1 | 6 |
| 67 to 68 | 6 | 13 |
| 69 to 70 | 2 | 3 |
| 71 to 72 | 1 | 10 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 1 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 5 |
| 77 to 78 | 2 | 4 |
| 79 to 80 | 1 | 14 |
| 81 to 82 | 8 | 15 |
| 83 to 84 | 6 | 13 |
| 85 to 85 | 1 | 2 |
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, 20 are women's.
114 lines from women, 466 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
18 women and 47 men in the cast. 4 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 20 of 691.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 65 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 20% of the words (1,626), men 80% (6,649).
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
2
Two men
73
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brian Levant (man)
- Written by
- Randy Kornfield (man)
- Produced by
- Chris Columbus (man), Michael Barnathan (man), Mark Radcliffe (man)
- Shot by
- Victor J. Kemper (man)
- Edited by
- Adam Weiss (man), Wilt Henderson (gender not listed), Kent Beyda (man)
- Music by
- David Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Leslie McDonald (woman)
- Costumes by
- Jay Hurley (man)
- Cast by
- Judy Taylor (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 16 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 6 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Rita Wilson 40, Laraine Newman 44
Men
Jake Lloyd 7, Sinbad 40, Jim Belushi 42, Phil Hartman 48, Arnold Schwarzenegger 49, Martin Mull 53, Robert Conrad 61
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $60 million
- Box office
- $130 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 85 scenes and 691 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
