Fails the Bechdel test
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005. Directed by Shane Black, written by Brett Halliday and Shane Black.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
15 women characters. 9 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
A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role...
- Released
- 11 Nov 2005
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 73 / 100
- Awards
- 5 wins & 16 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Harry 348 lines, man
- Harmony 167 lines, woman
- Gayperry 122 lines, man
- Gay Perry 42 lines, man
- Dexter 14 lines, man
- Voice 11 lines
- Leather#1 8 lines
- Aurelio 7 lines, man
- Leather#2 6 lines
- Flick.A 5 lines
Full cast, 41 people
- Robert Downey Jr. as Harry Lockhart
- Val Kilmer as Gay Perry
- Michelle Monaghan as Harmony Faith Lane
- Corbin Bernsen as Harlan Dexter
- Dash Mihok as Mr. Frying Pan
- Larry Miller as Dabney Shaw
- Rockmond Dunbar as Mr. Fire
- Shannyn Sossamon as Pink Hair Girl
- Angela Lindvall as Flicka
- Indio Falconer Downey as Harry Age 9
- Ariel Winter as Harmony Age 7
- Duane Carnahan as Chainsaw Kid
- Josh Richman as Rickie
- Martha Hackett as Pistol Woman
- Nancy Fish as NY Casting Woman
- Bill McAdams Jr. as N.Y. Cop
- Tanja Reichert as B-Movie Actress
- Jake McKinnon as Creature
- Stephanie Pearson as Teen Harmony
- Christopher Gilman as Protocop
- Brendan Fehily as Local News Reporter
- David Newsom as Agent Type
- Judie Aronson as Gift Bag Girl
- Ali Hillis as Marleah
- Wiley M. Pickett as Homicide Cop
- Joe Keyes as Lobby Cop
- Bobby Tuttle as Hotel Concierge
- Jake Eberle as Patrol Cop
- Saida Pagan as News Anchor
- Lela Edgar as Party Girl
- Daniel Browning Smith as Rubber Boy
- Teresa Maria Herrera as Newswoman
- Kathy Lamkin as Woman in Hospital Blues
- Evan Parke as Dexter Clinic Guard
- Vincent Laresca as Aurelio
- Brian Simpson as Dexter Goon
- Cole S. McKay as Dexter Goon
- Ben Hernandez Bray as Dexter Goon
- Harrison Young as Harmony's Dad
- Laurence Fishburne as Bear in Genaros Beer Commercial (voice) (uncredited)
- Deanna Dozier as Kristin (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 88
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 | 0 | 13 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 5 |
| 11 to 12 | 3 | 5 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 4 |
| 15 to 16 | 2 | 7 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 26 |
| 19 to 20 | 18 | 27 |
| 21 to 22 | 10 | 12 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 8 | 18 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 9 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 30 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 22 |
| 33 to 34 | 26 | 23 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 21 |
| 37 to 38 | 1 | 9 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 20 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 to 46 | 8 | 42 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 50 | 7 | 10 |
| 51 to 52 | 9 | 7 |
| 53 to 54 | 8 | 9 |
| 55 to 56 | 6 | 12 |
| 57 to 58 | 13 | 18 |
| 59 to 60 | 3 | 1 |
| 61 to 62 | 4 | 1 |
| 63 to 64 | 5 | 17 |
| 65 to 66 | 20 | 28 |
| 67 to 68 | 2 | 2 |
| 69 to 70 | 1 | 8 |
| 71 to 72 | 1 | 22 |
| 73 to 74 | 4 | 50 |
| 75 to 76 | 1 | 10 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 20 |
| 79 to 80 | 1 | 0 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 0 |
| 83 to 84 | 9 | 14 |
| 85 to 86 | 6 | 14 |
| 87 to 88 | 11 | 18 |
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, 25 are women's.
189 lines from women, 567 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
15 women and 23 men in the cast. 9 women and 20 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 49 of 852.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 84 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 25% of the words (2,724), men 75% (8,122).
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
1
Two men
39
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Shane Black (man)
- Written by
- Shane Black (man)
- From the novel by
- Brett Halliday (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man)
- Shot by
- Michael Barrett (man)
- Edited by
- Jim Page (man)
- Music by
- John Ottman (man)
- Production design by
- Aaron Osborne (man)
- Costumes by
- Christopher J. Kristoff (man)
- Cast by
- Mary Gail Artz (woman), Barbara Cohen (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 8 men
-
Production
6 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Shannyn Sossamon 26, Angela Lindvall 26, Michelle Monaghan 29
Men
Indio Falconer Downey 12, Dash Mihok 31, Rockmond Dunbar 32, Robert Downey Jr. 40, Val Kilmer 45, Corbin Bernsen 51, Larry Miller 51
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $15.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 88 scenes and 852 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
