Passes the Bechdel test

The Change-Up

Name: The Change-Up
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by David Dobkin, written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
23 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 93.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) grew up together and were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they've drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband, and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked. To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann), kids who adore him, and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. To Dave, Mitch's stress-free life without obligation or consequence would be a dream come true. Following a drunken night out together, Mitch and Dave's worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other's bodies and proceed to freak out. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other's lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed. Further complicating matters are Dave's sexy legal associate, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde) and Mitch's estranged father (Alan Arkin). With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back.

Released: 05 Aug 2011
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.3 / 10
Metascore: 39 / 100
Awards: 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Mitch 378 lines, man
Dave 355 lines, man
Jamie 76 lines, woman
Sabrina 38 lines, woman
Cara 21 lines, woman
Gladys 13 lines
Tatiana 12 lines, woman
Valtan 12 lines, man
Mona 7 lines, woman
Erin Walsh 3 lines, woman

Full cast, 62 people

Jason Bateman as Dave Lockwood
Ryan Reynolds as Mitch Planko
Leslie Mann as Jamie Lockwood
Olivia Wilde as Sabrina McArdle
Alan Arkin as Mitch's Dad
Gregory Itzin as Flemming Steel
Mircea Monroe as Tatiana
Sydney Rouviere as Cara Lockwood
Matthew Cornwell as Parks Foreman
Craig Bierko as Valtan
TJ Hassan as Kinkabe Lawyer
Ned Schmidtke as Ted Norton
Ming Lo as Ken Kinkabe
Dax Griffin as Blow-Dried Goon
Andrea Moore as Sophia
Taaffe O'Connell as Mona
Bailey Anne Borders as Babysitter
Clay Chamberlin as Boom Operator
Jeanine Jackson as Carla Nelson
Fred Stoller as Movie Set PA
Jamie Renell as Lawyer
Kenny Alfonso as Businessman at Sonsie Café
Joe Knezevich as Amalgamated Exec
Matthew Stanton as PA
Gabe Wood as Neighbor
Ed Ackerman as Victor
Vickie Eng as Erin Walsh
Amber Seyer as Beautiful Woman
Anna Colwell as Cute Girl in Elevator
Steven Dean Davis as Tattoo Artist
Suzanne Arkin as Pamela
Patricia French as Dave's Secretary
Jeanette Miller as Grandma Taylor
Greg Savage as Construction Worker
Adam Boyer as Tattoo Artist
Matthew Rimmer as Tattoo Artist
Ken DeLozier as Minister
Paul Barlow Jr. as Amalgamated Attorney
Anthony G Breed as Amalgamated Attorney
Gary Babiarz as Amalgamated Attorney
Dimitrius Pulido as Greased Up Lorno Guy
Blake Goza as 1st AD
Arin Logan as Sexy Girl in Bar
Martha B. Knighton as Old Lady
Michael Beasley as Security Guard
Clay Edmund Kraski as Security Guard
Courtney Amis as Teen #2 (uncredited)
India Batson as Teen #1 (uncredited)
Nadej K. Bailey as Student (uncredited)
Holly Britt as Pretzel Stand Customer (uncredited)
Orlando Vargas Diaz as Attorney (uncredited)
Bradford Haynes as Dad (uncredited)
Josiah Lyricq as Shopper (uncredited)
Todd Maynor as Recital Parent (uncredited)
Miles Mussenden as Attorney (uncredited)
Anna Rappaport as Firefly Girl (uncredited)
Steven Reddington as Parks Dept. Employee (uncredited)
Joel Rogers as Businessman (uncredited)
Joshua Tanksley as Valet (uncredited)
Lesley E. Warren as Amalgamated Attorney (uncredited)
Gloria Webber as Business Woman (uncredited)
Clinton Wayne as Puppeteer

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 93

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	1
3 to 4	0	3
5 to 6	0	3
7 to 8	3	44
9 to 10	14	21
11 to 12	0	52
13 to 14	7	46
15 to 16	0	28
17 to 18	0	47
19 to 20	0	17
21 to 22	7	28
23 to 24	5	16
25 to 26	12	40
27 to 28	14	40
29 to 30	3	34
31 to 32	6	27
33 to 34	0	12
35 to 36	0	3
37 to 38	0	4
39 to 40	0	7
41 to 42	7	39
43 to 44	0	1
45 to 46	0	0
47 to 48	0	3
49 to 50	0	0
51 to 52	2	9
53 to 54	7	13
55 to 56	0	16
57 to 58	1	35
59 to 60	12	13
61 to 62	0	0
63 to 64	0	0
65 to 66	4	6
67 to 68	0	0
69 to 70	0	14
71 to 72	1	0
73 to 74	2	14
75 to 76	6	31
77 to 78	5	11
79 to 80	14	10
81 to 82	19	17
83 to 84	1	4
85 to 86	2	5
87 to 88	2	21
89 to 90	2	1
91 to 92	2	3
93 to 93	2	22

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.

JAMIE: What a day. Dr. Klein lost the twins immunization record, the wireless went down, and Cara got bullied in ballet class again. CARA: Nicolette Peters keeps knocking me over during the battement glisse.

JAMIE: Well, looks like you won't be doing ballet at the rec center anymore. CARA: That's okay. I didn't really like it anyway.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 18 are women's.

162 lines from women, 761 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

23 women and 33 men in the cast. 8 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 13 of 956. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 107 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 14% of the words (1,890), men 86% (11,745). Women have 18% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: David Dobkin (man)
Written by: Jon Lucas (man), Scott Moore (man)
Produced by: David Dobkin (man), Neal H. Moritz (man)
Shot by: Eric Alan Edwards (man)
Edited by: Lee Haxall (woman), Greg Hayden (man)
Music by: John Debney (man)
Production design by: Barry Robison (man)
Cast by: Lisa Beach (woman), Sarah Katzman (woman)

The crew, department by department

Costume & Make-Up

4 women, 1 men, 11 not listed
Production

7 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
Art

3 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
Sound

0 women, 10 men
Visual Effects

0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
Other crew

1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
Directing

0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Editing

1 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 52 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Olivia Wilde 27, Mircea Monroe 29, Leslie Mann 39

Men

Ryan Reynolds 34, Jason Bateman 42, Craig Bierko 46, Gregory Itzin 63, Alan Arkin 77

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.5 times what it cost.

Budget: $52 million
Box office: $75.5 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 93 scenes and 956 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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