Passes the Bechdel test

Step Up

Name: Step Up
Released: 2006

2006. Directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Duane Adler and Melissa Rosenberg.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
31 women characters. 1 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 149.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

In Baltimore, the troublemaker and street dancer Tyler Gage lives with his foster parents in a lower class neighborhood. His best friends are Mac Carter and his little brother Skinny Carter and they used to hang around together, going to parties and stealing cars. After being expelled from a party, the trio breaks in the Maryland School of Arts and commits vandalism, destroying the stage. Tyler is arrested and sentenced to 200 hours of community service in the school and Director Gordon assigns him to help the janitor cleaning the place. One afternoon, the ballet dancer Nora Clark sees Tyler dancing in the parking area and when her partner Andrew has a strain and Tyler offers to help her in the choreography, she accepts the offer; they rehearsal and become close to each other while Tyler becomes friend of the students Miles Darby and Lucy Avila. When Andrew returns, Tyler that is known for quitting everything he starts gives up dancing and leaves Nora alone. After an incident, Tyler has to decide to follow his dream or return to his life of rebel loser.

Released: 11 Aug 2006
Genres: Crime, Drama, Music
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.5 / 10
Metascore: 48 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 3 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Tyler 257 lines, man
Angie 131 lines, woman
Miles 114 lines, man
Mac 51 lines, man
Richard 42 lines, man
Brett 37 lines, man
Kris Tina 35 lines, woman
Pamela 35 lines
Hollis 26 lines, man
Skinny 25 lines, man

Full cast, 85 people

Channing Tatum as Tyler Gage
Jenna Dewan as Nora Clark
Damaine Radcliff as Mac Carter
Rachel Griffiths as Director Gordon
Deirdre Lovejoy as Katherine Clark
Alyson Stoner as Camille Gage
Drew Sidora as Lucy Avila
Josh Henderson as Brett Dolan
Heavy D as Omar
Ryan Sands as History Teacher
Frank Ferrara Sr. as Security Guard
Frank Herzog as Judge Milton
De'Shawn Washington as Skinny Carter
Mario as Miles Darby
Tim Lacatena as Andrew
Jane Beard as Lena Freeman
Richard Pelzman as Bill Freeman
Carlyncia S. Peck as Mac's Mother
DeLon Howell as PJ
Dominique Boyd as Omar Party Girl Yvette
Reina Poindexter as Omar Party Girl #2
Angelica Huesca as Omar Party Girl #3
Anne Fletcher as Ms. Stephanie
Natalie Steinberg as Little Girl Ballerina
Jamie Scott as Colin
Isaiah Washington as Malcolm
Jiehae Park as Stagehand
Sheila Cutchlow as Scout #1
John Leslie Wolfe as Scout #2
Karim Fawzy as Oamr Partier
Tom Quinn as Music Teacher
Shiloh Monaco as Piano Player
Caitlin Kinney as Ballerina
Jeanne as Girl Singer #1 / Lucy Back Up Singer #1
Jeannie Ortega as Girl Singer #3
Donald Rheubottom as Court Room Sheriff
Donald Waugh as Fruit Vendor
Michael Seresin as Custodian
Spencer Longmore as Omar's Chop Shop Guy
Adrienne Canterna as Ballet Dancer
Oscar Campisi as Ballet Dancer
Tara Ghassemieh as Ballet Dancer
Nikkia Parish as Ballet Dancer
Ryan Rankine as Ballet Dancer
Emily Bicks as Dance Class Dancer
Whitney Brown as Dance Class Dancer
Ashley Canterna as Dance Class Dancer
Sara Cato as Dance Class Dancer
Caitlin Gold as Dance Class Dancer
Stephanie Jingle as Dance Class Dancer
Rebecca Mejia as Dance Class Dancer
Anthony Carr as Nora's Finale Dancer
Laura Edwards as Nora's Finale Dancer
Samantha Frampton as Nora's Finale Dancer
Antonio Hudnell as Nora's Finale Dancer
Julie Nelson as Nora's Finale Dancer
Samantha Zweben as Nora's Finale Dancer
Shawn Michelle Cosby as Nightclub Dancer
Melissa Emrico as Nightclub Dancer
Sabrina Furr as Nightclub Dancer
George Hubela as Nightclub Dancer
Jameson Perry as Nightclub Dancer
Ashley Phipps as Nightclub Dancer
Denise Piane as Nightclub Dancer
Sarah Satow as Nightclub Dancer
Jamal Sims as Nightclub Dancer
Adam Shankman as Nightclub Dancer
Zachary Woodlee as Nightclub Dancer
John Alix as Audition Dancer
Kellie Corbett as Hip Hop Dancer
Lance Guillermo as Hip Hop Dancer
Kirk Jennings as Hip Hop Dancer
Monica Warr as Hip Hop Dancer
Joanna Becker as Dancer (uncredited)
Tony Devon as Defense Attorney (uncredited)
Kawan Kean as Music Student (uncredited)
Chris O'Brocki as Music Student (uncredited)
Emily Peachey as Student (uncredited)
Jennifer Rouse as Nightclub Dancer (uncredited)
Natasha Sattler as Concert Usher (uncredited)
Noah Schaftel as Nightclub Dancer (uncredited)
Leo Christopher Sheridan as Dancer (uncredited)
Thomas W. Stewart as Nightclub Dancer (uncredited)
JB Tadena as MSA Student (uncredited)
Eddy Shalita as Club Patron Dancing (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 149

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	13
5 to 8	0	2
9 to 12	0	13
13 to 16	0	22
17 to 20	0	14
21 to 24	0	15
25 to 28	11	26
29 to 32	13	42
33 to 36	1	17
37 to 40	6	49
41 to 44	24	7
45 to 48	14	8
49 to 52	0	20
53 to 56	2	4
57 to 60	7	18
61 to 64	18	49
65 to 68	2	31
69 to 72	0	1
73 to 76	0	2
77 to 80	3	3
81 to 84	13	46
85 to 88	1	17
89 to 92	0	29
93 to 96	15	14
97 to 100	1	0
101 to 104	0	0
105 to 108	0	2
109 to 112	8	21
113 to 116	4	19
117 to 120	10	1
121 to 124	0	4
125 to 128	6	13
129 to 132	1	12
133 to 136	1	1
137 to 140	2	5
141 to 144	12	23
145 to 148	5	9
149 to 149	13	13

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

ANGIE: Sorry. Everything ran late. NATALIE: How’d it go? ANGIE: Is Denny’s hiring? That’s where I’m headed.

ANGIE: They were looking at Lucy. NATALIE: Boobs-On-a-Stick?

NATALIE: You don’t look so calm now. ANGIE: ‘Bye, Mom...

NATALIE: I like this one. ANGIE: What’re you still doing up...? NATALIE: Warning you.

ANGIE: That’s for you. KRIS TINA: They want you back on stage.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.

193 lines from women, 585 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

31 women and 23 men in the cast. 1 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 95 of 870. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 94 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 (1,544), men 75% (4,615).

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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 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: Anne Fletcher (woman)
Written by: Duane Adler (man), Melissa Rosenberg (woman)
Story by: Duane Adler (man)
Produced by: Jennifer Gibgot (woman), Erik Feig (man), Patrick Wachsberger (man), Adam Shankman (man)
Shot by: Michael Seresin (man)
Edited by: Nancy Richardson (woman)
Music by: Aaron Zigman (man)
Production design by: Shepherd Frankel (man)
Costumes by: Alix Hester (gender not listed)
Cast by: Joanna Colbert (woman), Rich Mento (man)