Passes the Bechdel test
The Secret Life of Pets
2016. Directed by Chris Renaud, written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 4 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
In a Manhattan apartment building, Max's life as a favorite pet is turned upside-down, when his owner brings home sloppy mongrel Duke. They must put their quarrels aside when they learn that adorable white bunny Snowball is building an army of lost pets determined to wreak revenge.
- Released
- 08 Jul 2016
- Genres
- Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 61 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 16 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Max 188 lines, man
- Duke 109 lines, man
- Snowball 74 lines, man
- Gidget 69 lines, woman
- Tiberius 30 lines, man
- Chloe 28 lines, woman
- Katie 28 lines, woman
- Pops 28 lines, man
- Buddy 25 lines, man
- Mel 22 lines, man
Full cast, 32 people
- Louis C.K. as Max (voice)
- Eric Stonestreet as Duke (voice)
- Kevin Hart as Snowball (voice)
- Jenny Slate as Gidget (voice)
- Ellie Kemper as Katie (voice)
- Albert Brooks as Tiberius (voice)
- Lake Bell as Chloe (voice)
- Dana Carvey as Pops (voice)
- Hannibal Buress as Buddy (voice)
- Bobby Moynihan as Mel (voice)
- Chris Renaud as Norman (voice)
- Steve Coogan as Ozone / Reginald (voice)
- Michael Beattie as Tattoo (voice)
- Sandra Echeverría as Maria (voice)
- Jaime Camil as Fernando (voice)
- Kiely Renaud as Molly (voice)
- Tara Strong as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jason Marsden as Additional Voices (voice)
- Mona Marshall as Additional Voices (voice)
- Brian T. Delaney as Additional Voices (voice)
- Bill Farmer as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jan Rabson as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ken Schretzmann as Additional Voices (voice)
- John Kassir as Additional Voices (voice)
- Danny Mann as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jim Ward as Additional Voices (voice)
- Tyler Werrin as Additional Voices (voice)
- Bob Bergen as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jim Cummings as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jess Harnell as Additional Voices (voice)
- Laraine Newman as Additional Voices (voice)
- Dee Bradley Baker as Additional Voices (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% 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 | 6 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 12 | 11 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 19 | 25 |
| 25 to 27 | 10 | 50 |
| 28 to 30 | 2 | 22 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 39 |
| 34 to 36 | 16 | 9 |
| 37 to 39 | 21 | 51 |
| 40 to 42 | 3 | 72 |
| 43 to 45 | 13 | 15 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 19 |
| 49 to 51 | 11 | 38 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 11 |
| 58 to 60 | 7 | 37 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 4 | 19 |
| 67 to 69 | 1 | 36 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 9 |
| 76 to 78 | 4 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 8 |
| 82 to 84 | 9 | 24 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 10 |
| 97 to 97 | 2 | 2 |
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.
GIDGET’S OWNER: Bye, Gidget! Be a good doggie! GIDGET: Hey Max!
GIDGET: Tiny dog? CHLOE: There are LOTS of tiny dogs in the city. I mean, YOU’RE a tiny dog, okay? So let’s just GO.
CHLOE: That’s kinda hard to dispute. GIDGET: HEY! You stay away from--mmmph!
GIDGET: We are not just GIVING UP! We’re dedicated. We’re loyal. We are easily the greatest pet ever! We’re DOGS! CHLOE: Cat.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
143 lines from women, 534 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 24 men in the cast. 4 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 13 of 724.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 64 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 (1,173), men 81% (4,844). Women have 21% 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
5
Two men
42
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Chris Renaud (man)
- Written by
- Cinco Paul (man), Ken Daurio (man), Brian Lynch (man)
- Produced by
- Chris Meledandri (man), Janet Healy (woman)
- Edited by
- Alexander Berner (man), Ken Schretzmann (man)
- Music by
- Alexandre Desplat (man)
- Production design by
- Eric Guillon (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 11 men, 61 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 19 men, 6 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 10 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 9 not listed
-
Lighting
1 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jenny Slate 34, Ellie Kemper 36, Lake Bell 37
Men
Hannibal Buress 33, Kevin Hart 36, Bobby Moynihan 39, Eric Stonestreet 44, Louis C.K. 48, Dana Carvey 61, Albert Brooks 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 11.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $75 million
- Box office
- $875 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 97 scenes and 724 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
