Fails the Bechdel test
Sugar
2008. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, written by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
By 2008, more than 25 percent of major league baseball players were born in Latin America. At 19, Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a serious kid from the Dominican Republic, signs with Kansas City. He flies to Phoenix for tryouts and is sent to the Class A team "The Swing" in the fictional town of Bridgetown, Iowa, where he lives with a farm family. Thus begins his odyssey: leaving his mom and girlfriend; living in an alien culture; learning English; overcoming jitters; working hard; achieving early success; navigating friendships, occasional racism, and a woman's mixed signals; dealing with an injury; trying performance-enhancing drugs; and, searching for his place in the world. Will he make it to the Majors; will he play in New York?
- Released
- 24 Apr 2009
- Genres
- Drama, Sport
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 82 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 7 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Miguel 259 lines, man
- Jorge 63 lines, man
- Osvaldo 36 lines, man
- Brad 34 lines, man
- Carmen 30 lines
- Sofia 30 lines
- Helen 26 lines, woman
- Anne 25 lines, woman
- Frank 22 lines, man
- Stu 21 lines, man
Full cast, 62 people
- Algenis Perez Soto as Miguel
- Jose Rijo as Alvarez
- Walki Cuevas as Alfonso
- Santo Silvestre as Umpire #1
- Emmanuel Nanita Carvajal as Reyes
- Cesar Emilio Minaya C. as Pedro
- Joendy Pena Brown as Marcos
- Kelvin Leonardo Garcia as Salvador
- Marcos Rosa as Sanchez
- Karl Bury as Rudy
- Zaida Alexandra Hernandez as Erica
- Lilin Soto Gonzales as Abuela
- Dioni Feliciano as Luis
- Teodosia Sanchez Reyes as Carmen
- Walky Alvarez as Sofia
- Letilier A. Foy Jr. as Jaime
- Victor Manuel Adon as Javier
- Raul Abraham as Floor Manager
- Manuel Cache as Uncle Angel
- Gisselle Jimenez as Cousin Lupe
- Omayra Perez Soto as Prima Omayra
- Francia Teresa Andujar as Aunt Lola
- Michel Junior Sanchez as Cousin Felipe
- Herny Severino as Neighbor Ana
- Wilson Daniel as Uncle Jeffe
- Braulio Castillo as Frank
- Conrad Layton as Julio
- Carlos Fermin as Antonio
- Rayniel Rufino as Jorge
- Marla Frumkin as Waitress
- André Holland as Brad
- Gerardo J. Ramirez as Orlando
- Jesus A. Diaz as Ed
- Michael Gaston as Stu Sutton
- Ann Whitney as Helen Higgins
- Richard Bull as Earl Higgins
- Ellary Porterfield as Anne
- Barbara P. Engstrom as Hilary
- Larry E. Donaldson as Michael
- Issac Thomas Richer Smith as Clubby
- Randolph Wehofer as Jack Jeffries
- Scott Behn as Umpire #2
- Jonathan Gregoire as Jackass
- Brandon Steinbrecher as Jeff
- Brandon Robert Gorrell as Randy
- Ian R. Wiley as Travis
- Holly Hanson as Wendy
- Ted Timbrook as Umpire #3
- Don Umland as Umpire #4
- Chris Harkins as Batter
- Alina Vargas as Reyna
- Eddie Martinez as Rafael
- Sándor Técsy as Nikolai
- Karolina Wydra as Raquel
- Jamie Tirelli as Osvaldo
- Rafael Espinal as Caballo
- Jose Luis Romero as José
- Hamlet Abreu as Hamlet
- Jean Carlos Rodriguez as Jean
- Harrison Alvarado as Harrison
- Roger Pena as Roger
- Ramon Calderon as Umpire #5
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 19% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 191
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 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 24 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 12 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 20 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 13 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 to 44 | 1 | 23 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 52 | 2 | 24 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 11 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 10 |
| 61 to 64 | 12 | 17 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 8 |
| 69 to 72 | 11 | 5 |
| 73 to 76 | 5 | 22 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 16 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 8 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 5 | 5 |
| 97 to 100 | 5 | 10 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 48 |
| 105 to 108 | 12 | 28 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 35 |
| 113 to 116 | 4 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 2 | 17 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 15 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 6 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 8 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 22 |
| 157 to 160 | 2 | 16 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 22 |
| 165 to 168 | 2 | 2 |
| 169 to 172 | 1 | 31 |
| 173 to 176 | 0 | 10 |
| 177 to 180 | 1 | 18 |
| 181 to 184 | 0 | 1 |
| 185 to 188 | 0 | 0 |
| 189 to 191 | 0 | 22 |
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, 12 are women's.
76 lines from women, 582 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 9 men in the cast. 5 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 164 of 816.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 163 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (785), men 87% (5,448). Women have 12% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
0
Two men
56
Exhibit E: behind the camera
6 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 43% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ryan Fleck (man), Anna Boden (woman)
- Written by
- Anna Boden (woman), Ryan Fleck (man)
- Produced by
- Paul S. Mezey (man), Jeremy Kipp Walker (man), Jamie Patricof (man)
- Shot by
- Andrij Parekh (man)
- Edited by
- Anna Boden (woman)
- Music by
- Michael Brook (man)
- Production design by
- Beth Mickle (woman)
- Costumes by
- Erin Benach (woman)
- Cast by
- Cindy Tolan (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 2 men
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
-
Writing
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
Karl Bury 37
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 191 scenes and 816 lines of dialogue. How the test works
