Passes the Bechdel test

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Name: Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Released: 2022

2022. Directed by Kasi Lemmons, written by Anthony McCarten.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 10 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 25 scenes out of 190.
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.

Poster for Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

The film

An African American girl is a supremely talented singer and encouraged by her singer mother she reaches great heights where her songs become no1 in the music charts. She marries but her marriage doesn't work out well. Her career suffers and her relationship with her father also gets bitter due to financial issues. All this takes a toll on her personal life.

Released: 23 Dec 2022
Genres: Biography, Drama, Music
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 6.6 / 10
Metascore: 51 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Whitney 456 lines, woman
Clive 113 lines, man
Bobby 93 lines, man
Robyn 82 lines, woman
John Houston 63 lines, man
Bobbi Kristina 41 lines, woman
Cissy 30 lines, woman
Warren Boyd 26 lines, woman
Eddie 19 lines
Jermaine 15 lines, man

Full cast, 28 people

Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston
Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown
Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis
Nafessa Williams as Robyn Crawford
Lance A. Williams as Gerry Griffith
Tamara Tunie as Cissy Houston
Clarke Peters as John Houston
Daniel Washington as Gary Houston
JaQuan Malik Jones as Michael Houston
Kris Sidberry as Pat Houston
Tanner Beard as Günther
Bailee Lopes as Bobbi-Kristina (8-10 Yrs old)
Jennifer Ellis as Lisa Hintelmann
Andrea Eversley as Barbara
Bria Danielle Singleton as Bobbi Kristina
Adrian M. Mompoint as Marvin
Coffey as James
Stew Replogle as Detective
Sean Amos as Minister
Jon F. Merz as Captain / Pilot
Jaison Hunter as Jermaine Jackson
Whitney Houston as Self (archive footage)
Oprah Winfrey as Self (archive footage)
Merv Griffin as Self (archive footage)
Zyla Harris-Petter as 'I'm Every Woman' Dancer (as Zyla Nia Harris-Peter)
Kevin Daigneault as Stage Manager (uncredited)
Maurice Emmanuel Parent as Producer #2
Elegance Bratton as Spencer

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 190

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 4	3	1
5 to 8	7	0
9 to 12	0	0
13 to 16	2	0
17 to 20	24	2
21 to 24	28	5
25 to 28	18	3
29 to 32	22	8
33 to 36	21	20
37 to 40	22	7
41 to 44	16	2
45 to 48	12	15
49 to 52	31	14
53 to 56	0	0
57 to 60	18	5
61 to 64	13	3
65 to 68	3	0
69 to 72	10	0
73 to 76	22	11
77 to 80	28	24
81 to 84	24	56
85 to 88	8	4
89 to 92	4	0
93 to 96	4	0
97 to 100	4	3
101 to 104	10	7
105 to 108	5	6
109 to 112	5	1
113 to 116	2	1
117 to 120	27	21
121 to 124	3	1
125 to 128	21	10
129 to 132	9	11
133 to 136	0	0
137 to 140	37	18
141 to 144	31	23
145 to 148	3	2
149 to 152	27	0
153 to 156	5	0
157 to 160	51	5
161 to 164	10	4
165 to 168	34	7
169 to 172	10	0
173 to 176	29	0
177 to 180	7	1
181 to 184	2	0
185 to 188	1	3
189 to 190	3	1

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.

ROBYN: Alright. Time to choose. Can’t put this off any longer. STYLIST: I have a range of different looks here to choose from - WHITNEY: No dresses. Uh uh. No dresses. WHITNEY: This is superbowl. This is beer, chicken wings, family tailgate grills. Uh uh.

WHITNEY: Home... CISSY: Okay, quiet down. Whitney, your turn.

WHITNEY: - for which I’m so so so grateful - CISSY: Gary you touch that chicken - - I swear to God. WHITNEY: In family and faith we trust -

ROBYN: Hey. WHITNEY: What? ROBYN: Just said “hey”. WHITNEY: Hey.

WHITNEY: Bet you can’t do it again. ROBYN: You doubt me? You’re questioning me? Let’s see you do better -

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 69 are women's.

676 lines from women, 305 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 13 men in the cast. 10 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,108. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 29 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 67% of the words (7,743), men 33% (3,860). Women have 69% 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

6 of the 19 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 43% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Kasi Lemmons (woman)
Written by: Anthony McCarten (man)
Produced by: Denis O'Sullivan (man), Clive Davis (man), Lawrence Mestel (man), Anthony McCarten (man), Patricia Houston (woman), Jeff Kalligheri (gender not listed) and 6 more
Shot by: Barry Ackroyd (man)
Edited by: Daysha Broadway (woman)
Production design by: Gerald Sullivan (man)
Costumes by: Charlese Antoinette Jones (woman)
Cast by: Kim Taylor-Coleman (woman)