Fails the Bechdel test
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
2022. Directed by Eric Appel, written by 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Eric Appel.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 6 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 1 out of 3.
The film
The life story of Weird Al Yankovic, the artist who became famous for his parodies of well-known songs. We see his early life and how his father tried to stifle his creativity, his slow to success and the trappings of fame. Some parts of the film may be fictional. Well, it is a parody.
- Released
- 04 Nov 2022
- Genres
- Action, Biography, Comedy
- Rated
- TV-14
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 70 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Primetime Emmys. 16 wins & 38 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Weird Al 249 lines, man
- Nick 73 lines, man
- Dr. Demento 60 lines, man
- Mary 55 lines, woman
- Madonna 52 lines, woman
- Tony Scotti 30 lines, man
- Bermuda 19 lines, man
- Teenage Al 19 lines, man
- Ben Scotti 17 lines, man
- Young Al 17 lines, man
Full cast, 61 people
- Daniel Radcliffe as 'Weird Al' Yankovic
- Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna
- Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento
- Toby Huss as Nick Yankovic
- Jack Lancaster as Jim
- Spencer Treat Clark as Steve
- Tommy O'Brien as Bermuda
- Arturo Castro as Pablo Escobar
- Julianne Nicholson as Mary Yankovic
- Diedrich Bader as Grizzled Narrator (voice)
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Doctor
- Richard Aaron Anderson as Young Al
- Thomas Lennon as Salesman
- David Bloom as Teenage Al
- Keanush Tafreshi as Kip
- Andrew Steven Hernandez as Robbie
- Paloma Esparza Rabinov as Hipster Teen
- Scott Aukerman as Police Officer
- Johnny Pemberton as Johnny Barf
- Jonah Ray Rodrigues as Jonah Barf
- Jeremy Bolm as Jeremy Barf
- Eric Appel as Captain Buffoon (voice)
- 'Weird Al' Yankovic as Tony Scotti
- Will Forte as Ben Scotti
- Patton Oswalt as Heckler
- Michael McKean as Sleazy MC
- Dot-Marie Jones as Mama Bear
- Dean Sharpe as Bartender
- Jorma Taccone as Pee-Wee Herman
- Demetri Martin as Tiny Tim
- Paul F. Tompkins as Gallagher
- Akiva Schaffer as Alice Cooper
- Conan O'Brien as Andy Warhol
- Emo Philips as Salvador Dali
- Nina West as Divine
- Jack Black as Wolfman Jack
- David Dastmalchian as John Deacon
- Anthony N. as Security Guard
- Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey
- Julie Chang as Connie Chung
- Josh Groban as Waiter
- Seth Green as Radio DJ (voice)
- Constantine Rousouli as Cone-Bra Dancer #1
- James Brown III as Cone-Bra Dancer #2
- Rocky Abou-Sakher as Terrorist Diner Patron
- Chris Ryan as Kidnapper
- Mike Escamilla as Guard #1
- Chad Guerrero as Guard #2
- Cesar Ramirez as Mariachi Band Member #1
- Omar Estrada as Mariachi Band Member #2
- Cesar Chavira as Mariachi Band Member #3
- Jimmy Walker Jr. as Floor Manager
- Trenyce as Diana Ross
- James Preston Rogers as Hulk Hogan
- William Guirola as Sicario
- Paul Riley Fox as Elton John (uncredited)
- Gordon Tarpley as David Bowie (uncredited)
- Lisa Margaroli as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (uncredited)
- Erin O'Shea as Kate Pierson (uncredited)
- James Hunter as Paparazzi (uncredited)
- LeChristopher Williams as Coolio (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 70
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 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 to 6 | 7 | 22 |
| 7 to 8 | 10 | 41 |
| 9 to 10 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 2 | 18 |
| 13 to 14 | 3 | 18 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 4 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 37 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 7 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 40 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 13 |
| 27 to 28 | 3 | 31 |
| 29 to 30 | 1 | 41 |
| 31 to 32 | 4 | 3 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 2 |
| 35 to 36 | 4 | 3 |
| 37 to 38 | 18 | 66 |
| 39 to 40 | 14 | 15 |
| 41 to 42 | 6 | 21 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 22 |
| 45 to 46 | 5 | 5 |
| 47 to 48 | 4 | 30 |
| 49 to 50 | 2 | 3 |
| 51 to 52 | 4 | 7 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 9 |
| 55 to 56 | 2 | 8 |
| 57 to 58 | 11 | 41 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 to 62 | 8 | 69 |
| 63 to 64 | 1 | 4 |
| 65 to 66 | 1 | 20 |
| 67 to 68 | 3 | 8 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 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, 17 are women's.
123 lines from women, 618 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 46 men in the cast. 6 women and 40 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 753.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 110 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (1,628), men 85% (9,224). Women have 17% 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
37
Exhibit E: behind the camera
5 of the 18 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Eric Appel (man)
- Written by
- Eric Appel (man), 'Weird Al' Yankovic (man)
- Produced by
- 'Weird Al' Yankovic (man), Mike Farah (man), Joe Farrell (man), Whitney Hodack (woman), Tim Headington (man), Lia Buman (woman) and 2 more
- Shot by
- Ross Riege (man)
- Edited by
- Jamie Kennedy (woman)
- Music by
- Leo Birenberg (man), Zach Robinson (man)
- Production design by
- Dan Butts (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Wendy Benbrook (woman)
- Cast by
- Wendy O'Brien (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 10 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 9 men
-
Sound
1 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 43 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Evan Rachel Wood 35, Julianne Nicholson 51
Men
Daniel Radcliffe 33, Spencer Treat Clark 34, Arturo Castro 36, Toby Huss 55, Diedrich Bader 55, Rainn Wilson 56
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $12 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 70 scenes and 753 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
