Passes the Bechdel test

Vengeance

Name: Vengeance
Released: 2022

2022. Directed by B.J. Novak, written by B.J. Novak.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 87.
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

Months after a few one night stands, New York City writer Ben finds out a girl he barely knows has died. He's talked into flying to the middle of nowhere in Texas for her funeral where her brother vows to find out who killed her... and seek vengeance.

Released: 29 Jul 2022
Genres: Comedy, Music, Mystery
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 65 / 100
Awards: 1 win total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Ben 406 lines, man
Ty 171 lines, man
Q. Sellers 73 lines, man
Sharon 62 lines, woman
Eloise 42 lines, woman
El Stupido 32 lines, man
Granny 25 lines, woman
Kansas City 25 lines, woman
Sancholo 20 lines, man
Crawl 18 lines, man

Full cast, 36 people

B.J. Novak as Ben Manalowitz
Boyd Holbrook as Ty Shaw
J. Smith-Cameron as Sharon Shaw
Issa Rae as Eloise
Ashton Kutcher as Quentin Sellers
Lio Tipton as Abilene Shaw
Dove Cameron as Kansas City Shaw
Isabella Amara as Paris Shaw
Eli Bickel as El Stupido Shaw
John Mayer as John
Louanne Stephens as Granny Carole Shaw
Zach Villa as Sancholo
Clint Obenchain as Crawl
Rio Alexander as Sheriff Jimenez
Ryan Hammond as Det. Keith St. John
Ben Whitehair as Officer Dan
Grayson Berry as Officer Mike
Nathaniel Augustson as Rowdy Stranger #1
Sean J. Dillingham as Rowdy Stranger
Ivan Hernandez as Sancholo's Thug
David Hight as Cowboy
Tracy S. Lee as Radio Intern
Adrianne Lovato as Texan Line Dancer
Micah McNeil as Texas Tech Fan
Mike Miller as Doctor
Sarah Minnich
Bronwen Murray as Hipster
Aaron Rogers as NYC Hipster
Tony Sedillo as Sancholo's Associate
J. Nathan Simmons as Diner Patron
Avalon Stone as Whataburger Waitress
Dora Woodrum as Artist / Original Artwork
Darlene Kellum as Dancer (uncredited)
Gonzalo Robles as Not Sancholo (uncredited)
Jeremy Warner as Club Patron (uncredited)
Melissa Chambers as (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 87

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

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.

SHARON: It’ll kick in, it’s just temperamental. Did you get a chance to meet everyone before? SHARON: These are my very talented daughters. This is Abilene’s sister Paris, she’s 24 fixin’ to be 25. She’s going to be a famous filmmaker. PARIS: Nice to meet you.

SHARON: And this is Kansas City. She’s 17 fixin’ to be 18. She’s going to be our famous-- KANSAS CITY: Just famous. SHARON: K.C., I told you, those are not our values. You have to be a famous something. KANSAS CITY: A famous celebrity.

SHARON: Well, that sounds sad! KANSAS CITY: Mama, can you pass the wine? SHARON: You can have wine when you finish your tequila.

PARIS KANSAS CITY: You love it? What? KANSAS CITY: You know this town doesn’t even have its own Snapchat filter? Holliston, where the rodeo is, that’s a three-filter town. SHARON: But no place to raise a family.

PARIS: Like they’d do anything. SHARON: They’d say it was an accident. PARIS: What’s it like to live in New York? KANSAS CITY: My friend Selena went there on a school trip. She said Times Square is like if your phone came to life.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

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

171 lines from women, 788 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 17 men in the cast. 7 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 1,016. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 102 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 18% of the words (2,137), men 82% (9,588).

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 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: B.J. Novak (man)
Written by: B.J. Novak (man)
Produced by: Greg Gilreath (gender not listed), Jason Blum (man), Adam Hendricks (man)
Shot by: Lyn Moncrief (man)
Edited by: Plummy Tucker (woman), Hilda Rasula (woman), Andy Canny (man)
Music by: FINNEAS (man)
Production design by: Hillary Andujar (gender not listed), Courtney Andujar (non-binary) (non-binary)
Costumes by: Rachel Sage Kunin (gender not listed)
Cast by: Sarah Domeier Lindo (woman), Terri Taylor (woman)