Passes the Bechdel test
Romeo Must Die
2000. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, written by Mitchell Kapner and Eric Bernt and John Jarrell.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 155. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
In this modern day Romeo and Juliet, kung fu action star Jet Li plays Romeo to hip-hop singer, Aaliyah Haughton's Juliet. Li is an ex-cop investigating the murder of his brother, who had ties with the Chinese mafia in America. Aaliyah plays the daughter of the American mob boss. Neither side approves of their romance, so, obviously, kung fu action ensues, with a soundtrack by Aaliyah.
- Released
- 22 Mar 2000
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Han 106 lines, man
- Trish 94 lines, woman
- Isaak 48 lines, man
- Mac 46 lines, man
- Ch'U 36 lines, man
- Maurice 27 lines, man
- Kai 24 lines, man
- Roth 21 lines, man
- Colin 11 lines, man
- Silk 11 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
- Jet Li as Han Sing
- Aaliyah as Trish O'Day
- Isaiah Washington as Mac
- Russell Wong as Kai
- Delroy Lindo as Isaak O'Day
- D. B. Woodside as Colin O'Day
- Henry O as Ch'u Sing
- Jon Kit Lee as Po Sing
- Edoardo Ballerini as Vincent Roth
- Anthony Anderson as Maurice
- DMX as Silk
- Matthew Harrison as Dave
- Terry Chen as Kuang
- Derek Lowe as Chinese Messenger
- Ronin Wong as New Prisoner
- Byron Lawson as Head Guard
- Kendall Saunders as Colin's Girlfriend
- Benz Antoine as Crabman
- Keith Dallas as Bouncer
- Taayla Markell as Po Girlfriend
- Chang Tseng as Victor Ho
- Tong Lung as Overlord
- Richard Yee as Overlord
- Colin Foo as Overlord
- Lance Gibson as Doorman
- Grace Park as Asian Dancer
- Jennifer Wong as Asian Dancer
- Manoj Sood as Akbar
- Fatima Robinson as Lori
- Gaston Morrison as Maurice's Crew
- Clay Donahue Fontenot as Maurice's Crew
- Ryan Jefferson Lowe as Young Po
- Jonross Fong as Young Han
- Alonso Oyarzun as Alonso
- Samuel Scantlebury as Paperboy
- Françoise Yip as Motorcycle Fighter
- Alvin Sanders as Calvin
- William S. Taylor as Harold
- Morgan Reynolds as Morgan
- David Kopp as Delivery Man
- Aaron Joseph as Kid in Boutique
- William MacDonald as Officer
- Oliver Tan as Gate Guard (as Oliver Svensson-Tan)
- Kandyse McClure as Store Clerk
- Tonjha Richardson as Store Clerk
- Chic Gibson as Taxi Driver
- Jody Vance as Sportscaster
- Derek Kwan as Chinese Boy (uncredited)
- Jessica J. Immanuel as Kid in Boutique (uncredited)
- Larry Lam as Asian Badass (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 155
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 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 7 |
| 9 to 12 | 2 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 4 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 to 40 | 6 | 6 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 4 |
| 49 to 52 | 7 | 6 |
| 53 to 56 | 9 | 16 |
| 57 to 60 | 4 | 10 |
| 61 to 64 | 9 | 13 |
| 65 to 68 | 8 | 16 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 14 |
| 77 to 80 | 10 | 37 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 8 |
| 85 to 88 | 4 | 6 |
| 89 to 92 | 9 | 19 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 6 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 15 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 4 |
| 105 to 108 | 6 | 9 |
| 109 to 112 | 1 | 7 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 2 | 2 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 5 | 6 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 1 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 15 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 1 |
| 141 to 144 | 9 | 10 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 30 |
| 149 to 152 | 2 | 36 |
| 153 to 155 | 0 | 15 |
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.
TRISH: Lori ... Will you please give these little monsters their funk fix? TRISH: Watch the store, huh? I have some errands to run. LORI: No worries.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.
104 lines from women, 345 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 34 men in the cast. 2 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 25 of 490.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 53 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 (1,366), men 81% (5,640). Women have 23% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
1
Two men
37
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 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
- Andrzej Bartkowiak (man)
- Written by
- John Jarrell (man), Eric Bernt (man)
- Story by
- Mitchell Kapner (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man), Jim Van Wyck (man)
- Shot by
- Glen MacPherson (man)
- Edited by
- Derek Brechin (man)
- Music by
- Stanley Clarke (man)
- Production design by
- Michael S. Bolton (man)
- Costumes by
- Sandra J. Blackie (woman)
- Cast by
- Lora Kennedy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 20 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
9 women, 15 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 21 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Aaliyah 21
Men
Anthony Anderson 29, D. B. Woodside 30, Edoardo Ballerini 30, Jet Li 36, Isaiah Washington 36, Russell Wong 37, Delroy Lindo 47, Henry O 72
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $91 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 155 scenes and 490 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
