Passes the Bechdel test

The Cooler

Name: The Cooler
Released: 2004

2004. Directed by Wayne Kramer, written by Frank Hannah and Wayne Kramer.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 97.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

The unluckiest man in Vegas - a guy whose bad luck is contagious - is used by the last of the old time mob run casinos to kill high rollers' action. That is, until he falls in love with a cocktail waitress and gets "lady luck," which throws the situation into reverse. Things turn nasty when the casino director tries to break up the romance.

Released: 16 Jan 2004
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 69 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 26 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Bernie 148 lines, man
Shelly 109 lines, man
Natalie 104 lines, woman
Nicky 26 lines, man
Larry 25 lines, man
Stickman 24 lines
Mikey 23 lines, man
Charlene 15 lines, woman
Buddy 10 lines, man
Pinkerton 8 lines, man

Full cast, 38 people

William H. Macy as Bernie Lootz
Alec Baldwin as Shelly Kaplow
Maria Bello as Natalie Belisario
Shawn Hatosy as Mikey
Ron Livingston as Larry Sokolov
Paul Sorvino as Buddy Stafford
Estella Warren as Charlene
Arthur J. Nascarella as Nicky Fingers Bonnatto
Joey Fatone as Johnny Cappella
M.C. Gainey as Highway Officer
Ellen Greene as Doris
Don Scribner as Lou
Tony Longo as Tony
Richard Israel as Marty Goldfarb
Timothy Landfield as The Player
T.J. Gioia as Bulldog
Jewel Shepard as Hooker
Gordon Michaels as Mr. Pinkerton
Doc Watson as Morrie
Dan Lemieux as Suburbanite
Larry Elliott as Floor Manager
Joe Conti as Pit Boss
Chris Platt as Dealer
Norbert Ganska as Stickman #1
Mitch Samboceti as Player
Andrew Simbeck as Stickman #2
Danny Grossen as Stickman #3
Jeff Hill as Stickman #4
Monet Beaman as Stickman #5
Charlie Carr as Boxman
Kanie Kastroll as Croupier
Bryon Baker as Stickman #6
John Kozeluh as Man
Cherilyn Hayres as Woman
Jim McCarthy as Televangelist
Frank Hannah as Dealer #2
Heather McHenry as Johnny Capella's Girl
Monika Bella as Johnny Capella's Girl

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 97

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	0	0
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	11	13
10 to 12	0	8
13 to 15	0	25
16 to 18	4	12
19 to 21	0	17
22 to 24	12	26
25 to 27	14	12
28 to 30	4	40
31 to 33	8	12
34 to 36	10	17
37 to 39	10	50
40 to 42	9	42
43 to 45	7	5
46 to 48	0	1
49 to 51	0	14
52 to 54	6	8
55 to 57	0	2
58 to 60	0	8
61 to 63	5	3
64 to 66	6	7
67 to 69	9	11
70 to 72	1	3
73 to 75	6	4
76 to 78	0	18
79 to 81	0	2
82 to 84	0	11
85 to 87	1	5
88 to 90	3	5
91 to 93	1	1
94 to 96	1	3
97 to 97	0	0

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.

NATALIE: Thanks. DORIS: Bitch. That's the third time this month... Let me get you that cream.

NATALIE: When was the last time you saw a doctor? CHARLENE: This clinic in Jersey. Maybe six months ago. I wasn't about to go back after they treated me like cattle. Just because I didn't have no insu…

CHARLENE: I gotta go pee. I'm always peeing. NATALIE: How did you get in here?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

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

128 lines from women, 385 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 16 men in the cast. 5 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 565. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 52 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 23% of the words (1,636), men 77% (5,626). Women have 25% 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

4 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wayne Kramer (man)
Written by: Frank Hannah (man), Wayne Kramer (man)
Produced by: Sean Furst (man), Michael A. Pierce (man)
Shot by: James Whitaker (man)
Edited by: Arthur Coburn (man)
Music by: Mark Isham (man)
Production design by: Toby Corbett (man)
Costumes by: Kristin M. Burke (woman)
Cast by: Sig De Miguel (man), Cathy Sandrich Gelfond (woman), Amanda Mackey (woman), Wendy Weidman (woman)