Fails the Bechdel test

Pixels

Name: Pixels
Released: 2015

2015. Directed by Chris Columbus, written by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling and Patrick Jean.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
25 women characters. 6 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

In 1982, the boy Sam Brenner disputes the video game arcade championship and loses the title to Eddie "The Fire Blaster" Plant playing Donkey Kong. This defeat affects his life and in the present days, Brenner is an installer of audio and video systems. His best friend Will Cooper is the President of the United States. Brenner is installing a system at the house of Violet Van Patten, who has just divorced, for her son Matty. Out of the blue, he is summoned to the White House and he finds that Violet is a military that works there. Soon he learns that an American base was attacked by aliens. When he meets his friend Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamansoff, he discovers that the aliens have found a time capsule sent by the US Government to the space with a videocassette of videogame and understood that it was a declaration of war. The aliens broadcast a challenge to Earth to play and win a videogame against them; otherwise Earth will be destroyed. Now the last hope on Earth is Brenner, Cooper, Ludlow, Violet and Eddie.

Released: 24 Jul 2015
Genres: Animation, Action, Adventure
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 5.6 / 10
Metascore: 27 / 100
Awards: 5 wins & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Brenner 220 lines, man
Violet 113 lines, woman
President Cooper 96 lines, man
Ludlow 76 lines, man
Eddie Plant 50 lines, man
Matty 35 lines, man
Admiral Porter 18 lines, man
Young Brenner 12 lines, man
Q-Bert 11 lines, man
Young Cooper 9 lines, man

Full cast, 80 people

Adam Sandler as Brenner
Kevin James as Cooper
Michelle Monaghan as Violet
Peter Dinklage as Eddie
Josh Gad as Ludlow
Matt Lintz as Matty
Brian Cox as Admiral Porter
Denis Akiyama as Professor Iwatani
Sean Bean as Corporal Hill (SAS Officer)
Jane Krakowski as First Lady Jane Cooper
Dan Aykroyd as 1982 Championship MC
Affion Crockett as Sergeant Dylan Cohan
Lainie Kazan as Mickey Lamonsoff
Ashley Benson as Lady Lisa
Tom McCarthy as Michael the Robot
Tim Herlihy as Defense Secretary
Jackie Sandler as President's Assistant Jennifer
Jared Sandler as White House Junior Aide Jared
William S. Taylor as Navy Secretary
Rose Rollins as White House Press Secretary
Tucker Smallwood as CIA Chief
Serena Williams as Serena Willams
Martha Stewart as Martha Stewart
Allen Covert as Abusive Citizen
Bill Lake as NY Police Commissioner
Mark Whelan as Colonel Devereux
Dan Patrick as White House Reporter #1
Robert Smigel as White House Reporter #2
Steve Koren as White House Reporter #3
Sadie Sandler as Lemonadie Sadie
Sunny Sandler as Sweet Scout Girl
Hannah Covert as Arcader Choir Girl
Abigail Covert as Classroom Scout Girl
Sienna James as Classroom Scout Girl
Shea James as Classroom Scout Girl
Chris Titone as Soccer Player
Jonathan Loughran as White House Gate Guard
Toru Iwatani as Electric Dream Factory Repairman
Anthony Ippolito as 13-Year Old Brenner
Jared Riley as 13-Year Old Cooper
Andrew Bambridge as 13-Year Old Eddie
Jacob Shinder as 8-Year Old Ludlow
Jack Fulton as Little Boy on London Street
Kevin Grady as Samurai Gamer
Bridget Graham as Cyber Chick
Jocelyn Hudon as Cyber Chick
Margaret Killingbeck as Old Woman in London Apartment
Ron Mustafaa as Indian Teenage Boy
Meher Pavri as Indian Teenage Girl
Annika Pergament as News Reporter
Lamont James as Seal
James Preston Rogers as Seal
Bola Olubowale as Seal
Rob Archer as Seal
Mark Sparks as Fighter Pilot
Steve Wiebe as DARPA Scientist
Sara Haines as TV News Anchor
Derwin Philips as Secret Service Man
Michael Boisvert as Secret Service Man
Colleen Reynolds as Abusive Citizen
Jimi Shlag as Abusive Citizen
Emily Jenkins as Abusive Citizen
Sistah Lois as Sergeant Cohan's Mother
Andrew McMichael as Arcade Employee
Gary Douglas as DC Valet
Eric Trask as Warden
Susie McLean as Press Person
Daryl Hall as Daryl Hall
John Oates as John Oates
Matt Frewer as Max Headroom (voice)
Billy West as Additional Character Voice (voice)
Holly Beavon as Additional Character Voice (voice)
Fiona Shaw as Prime Minister (uncredited)
Nick Swardson as Pac-Man Victim (uncredited)
Joshua Holmes as Arcader (uncredited)
Jean Christophe Loustau as SWAT Team Member (uncredited)
Dave Reachill as Lab Technician (uncredited)
Tyler Malazo as Choir Kid (uncredited)
Carlos Alazraqui as Tattoo (voice) (uncredited)
Rob Schneider as Q*Bert (voice) (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 127

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 3	1	1
4 to 6	0	30
7 to 9	1	21
10 to 12	4	20
13 to 15	2	16
16 to 18	5	6
19 to 21	15	15
22 to 24	3	6
25 to 27	1	5
28 to 30	4	26
31 to 33	3	34
34 to 36	0	24
37 to 39	13	33
40 to 42	2	17
43 to 45	1	10
46 to 48	6	6
49 to 51	0	8
52 to 54	4	17
55 to 57	1	2
58 to 60	1	3
61 to 63	3	8
64 to 66	5	39
67 to 69	5	16
70 to 72	1	4
73 to 75	0	10
76 to 78	2	6
79 to 81	3	0
82 to 84	1	2
85 to 87	2	3
88 to 90	1	5
91 to 93	3	2
94 to 96	1	1
97 to 99	0	2
100 to 102	3	12
103 to 105	7	32
106 to 108	23	53
109 to 111	3	16
112 to 114	1	13
115 to 117	5	33
118 to 120	0	21
121 to 123	3	17
124 to 126	2	3
127 to 127	0	0

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, 19 are women's.

141 lines from women, 598 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

25 women and 46 men in the cast. 6 women and 31 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 778. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 60 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 19% of the words (2,301), men 81% (9,923).

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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Chris Columbus (man)
Written by: Tim Herlihy (man), Timothy Dowling (man)
Story by: Patrick Jean (man)
Produced by: Mark Radcliffe (man), Chris Columbus (man), Allen Covert (man), Adam Sandler (man)
Shot by: Amir Mokri (man)
Edited by: Hughes Winborne (man)
Music by: Henry Jackman (man)
Production design by: Peter Wenham (man)
Costumes by: Christine Wada (woman)
Cast by: Angela Demo (woman), Barbara J. McCarthy (woman)