Fails the Bechdel test
Tusk
2014. Directed by Kevin Smith, written by Kevin Smith.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 1 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
When podcaster Wallace travels to Canada to interview someone, he winds up meeting a strange man named Howe who has many stories to tell about his past life during his interview. Wallace wakes up the next day finding out Howe isn't the person he thought he was. Howe has plans to surgically and mentally turn Wallace into a walrus.
- Released
- 19 Sep 2014
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Howe 216 lines, man
- Wallace 152 lines, man
- Guy Lapointe 38 lines, man
- Teddy 38 lines, man
- Allison 34 lines, woman
- Border Agent 6 lines, man
- Neighbor 6 lines, man
- Detective 5 lines, man
- Clerk 3 lines, woman
- A Life Of Adventure 2 lines
Full cast, 15 people
- Michael Parks as Howard Howe
- Justin Long as Wallace Bryton
- Genesis Rodriguez as Ally Leon
- Haley Joel Osment as Teddy Craft
- Johnny Depp as Guy Lapointe
- Harley Morenstein as Border Agent
- Ralph Garman as Detective
- Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as Gimli Slider Waitress
- Harley Quinn Smith as Girl Clerk #1
- Lily-Rose Depp as Girl Clerk #2
- Ashley McCauley as Convenient Store Customer
- Douglas Banks as Kill Bill Kid
- Matthew Shively as Young Howe
- Zak Knutson as Ernest Hemingway (uncredited)
- Josh Roush as Bar Patron 2 (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 138
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 | 11 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 6 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 42 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 14 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 24 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 42 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 23 |
| 37 to 39 | 8 | 56 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 62 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 1 | 6 |
| 55 to 57 | 4 | 2 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 7 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 3 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 5 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 12 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 3 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 4 |
| 85 to 87 | 2 | 12 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 10 |
| 91 to 93 | 4 | 26 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 4 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 1 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 1 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 3 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 6 |
| 109 to 111 | 6 | 17 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 10 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 0 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 8 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 6 |
| 124 to 126 | 2 | 0 |
| 127 to 129 | 1 | 3 |
| 130 to 132 | 2 | 2 |
| 133 to 135 | 2 | 0 |
| 136 to 138 | 1 | 1 |
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, 7 are women's.
37 lines from women, 465 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 8 men in the cast. 1 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 33 of 509.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 205 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 3% of the words (252), men 97% (7,546). Women have 7% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
1
Two men
32
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Kevin Smith (man)
- Written by
- Kevin Smith (man)
- Produced by
- Shannon McIntosh (woman), David S. Greathouse (man), William D. Johnson (gender not listed), Sam Englebardt (man)
- Shot by
- James Laxton (man)
- Edited by
- Kevin Smith (man)
- Music by
- Christopher Drake (man)
- Production design by
- John D. Kretschmer (man)
- Costumes by
- Maya Lieberman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 13 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 9 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Harley Quinn Smith 15, Lily-Rose Depp 15, Genesis Rodriguez 27, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith 43
Men
Haley Joel Osment 26, Harley Morenstein 29, Justin Long 36, Ralph Garman 49, Johnny Depp 51, Michael Parks 74
Exhibit G: the money
It made 63% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $3 million
- Box office
- $1.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 138 scenes and 509 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
