Fails the Bechdel test
My Cousin Vinny
1992. Directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Dale Launer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 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
Bill Gambini and Stanley Rothenstein are two friends from New York University who just received scholarships to UCLA. They decide to drive through the South. Once they arrive in Alabama, they stop at a local convenience store to pick up a few snacks. But, no sooner than they leave the store, they are arrested. They had thought that they were arrested for shoplifting, but they were arrested for murder and robbery. Worse, they are facing execution for this crime. Bill and Stan do not have enough money for a lawyer, so the good news is that Bill has a lawyer in his family, his cousin, Vincent Laguardia Gambini. The bad news is that Vinny is an inexperienced lawyer who has not been at a trial. So, Vinny has to defend his clients and battle an uncompromising judge, some tough locals, and even his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito, who just does not know when to shut up, to prove his clients' innocence. But he will soon realize that he is going to need help.
- Released
- 13 Mar 1992
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Vinny 347 lines, man
- Lisa 139 lines, woman
- Bill 90 lines, man
- Judge 88 lines, man
- Stan 84 lines, man
- Trotter 52 lines, man
- Tipton 25 lines, man
- Farley 23 lines, man
- Wilbur 16 lines, man
- Gibbons 14 lines, man
Full cast, 29 people
- Ralph Macchio as Bill Gambini
- Joe Pesci as Vinny Gambini
- Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito
- Mitchell Whitfield as Stan Rothenstein
- Fred Gwynne as Judge Chamberlain Haller
- Lane Smith as Jim Trotter III
- Austin Pendleton as John Gibbons
- Bruce McGill as Sheriff Farley
- Maury Chaykin as Sam Tipton
- Paulene Myers as Constance Riley
- Raynor Scheine as Ernie Crane
- James Rebhorn as George Wilbur
- Chris Ellis as J.T.
- Michael Simpson as Neckbrace
- Lou Walker as Grits Cook
- Kenny Jones as Jimmy Willis
- Thomas Merdis as Man in Town Square
- J. Don Ferguson as Guard #1
- Michael Genevie as Guard #2
- Jeff Lewis as Deputy #1
- Ron Leggett as Deputy #2
- Aubrey J. Osteen as Deputy #3
- Larry Shuler as Hotel Clerk
- Suzi Bass as Woman
- Michael Burgess as Prison Van Driver
- Bill Coates as Bailiff
- Jill Jane Clements as Courtroom Clerk
- Muriel Moore as Juror #1
- Bob Penny as Juror #2
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 56
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 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 2 | 86 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 29 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 to 12 | 7 | 63 |
| 13 to 14 | 4 | 38 |
| 15 to 16 | 9 | 55 |
| 17 to 18 | 3 | 5 |
| 19 to 20 | 16 | 40 |
| 21 to 22 | 4 | 23 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 6 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 30 | 3 | 2 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 22 |
| 33 to 34 | 7 | 6 |
| 35 to 36 | 1 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 25 | 32 |
| 39 to 40 | 13 | 25 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 11 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 2 |
| 45 to 46 | 5 | 6 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 4 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 33 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 68 |
| 53 to 54 | 9 | 43 |
| 55 to 56 | 40 | 150 |
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, 17 are women's.
158 lines from women, 764 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 20 men in the cast. 5 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 51 of 970.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 123 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,895), men 84% (10,140). Women have 17% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
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
43
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jonathan Lynn (man)
- Written by
- Dale Launer (man)
- Produced by
- Dale Launer (man), Paul Schiff (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Deming (man)
- Edited by
- Stephen E. Rivkin (man), Tony Lombardo (man)
- Music by
- Randy Edelman (man)
- Production design by
- Victoria Paul (woman)
- Cast by
- David Rubin (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 7 men, 31 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 20 men, 11 not listed
-
Art
5 women, 5 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 5 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 53 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Marisa Tomei 27, Paulene Myers 78
Men
Mitchell Whitfield 27, Ralph Macchio 30, Bruce McGill 41, Maury Chaykin 42, Joe Pesci 49, Austin Pendleton 51, Lane Smith 55, Fred Gwynne 65
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $64.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 56 scenes and 970 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
