Fails the Bechdel test

Wonder Boys

Name: Wonder Boys
Released: 2000

2000. Directed by Curtis Hanson, written by Michael Chabon and Steve Kloves.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 5 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Grady Tripp is a professor/writer living in Pittsburgh who is struggling with writer's block. Whilst doing this, he also manages to get the chancellor pregnant. In the meantime, he and a college student, James Leer are trying to find a rare jacket once owned by Marilyn Monroe, and a college girl, Hannah Green boarding with Grady has a bit of a crush on him.

Released: 25 Feb 2000
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 74 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 21 wins & 46 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Grady 514 lines, man
James Leer 174 lines, man
Crabtree 134 lines, man
Sara 98 lines, woman
Hannah Green 46 lines, woman
Miss Sloviak 25 lines, man
Vernon 24 lines, man
Walter 21 lines, man
Hank 14 lines, man
Greenhut 13 lines, man

Full cast, 35 people

Michael Douglas as Grady Tripp
Tobey Maguire as James Leer
Frances McDormand as Sara Gaskell
Robert Downey Jr. as Terry Crabtree
Katie Holmes as Hannah Green
Rip Torn as Q
Richard Knox as Vernon Hardapple
Jane Adams as Oola
Michael Cavadias as Miss Sloviak
Richard Thomas as Walter Gaskell
Alan Tudyk as Sam Traxler
Philip Bosco as Emily's Father
George Grizzard as Fred Leer
Kelly Bishop as Amanda Leer
Bill Velin as Officer Pupcik
Charis Michelsen as Carrie
Yusuf Gatewood as Howard
June Hildreth as Emily's Mother
Richard Hidlebird as Hi-Hat Bouncer
Screamer as Poe
Bingo O'Malley as Wordfest Party Guest
Patricia Cray as Wordfest Party Guest
Marita Golden as Wordfest Party Guest
Victor Quinaz as Wordfest Party Guest
James Ellroy as Wordfest Party Guest
Lenora Nemetz as Wordfest Party Guest
Tracey D. Turner as Wordfest Party Guest
James Kisicki as Wordfest Party Guest
Rob Mac as Student
Anika Bobb as Student
Katherine Sweeney as Student
Katrina M. Faessel as Student (uncredited)
John W. Iwanonkiw as Father at Hospital (uncredited)
Sean King as Student (uncredited)
Jackson Nunn as Night Club Dancer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 129

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	8	15
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	1	39
10 to 12	8	23
13 to 15	18	70
16 to 18	8	49
19 to 21	0	26
22 to 24	15	19
25 to 27	0	26
28 to 30	0	3
31 to 33	13	53
34 to 36	0	16
37 to 39	0	8
40 to 42	0	6
43 to 45	0	0
46 to 48	0	0
49 to 51	0	42
52 to 54	4	39
55 to 57	17	19
58 to 60	0	45
61 to 63	0	7
64 to 66	0	1
67 to 69	9	9
70 to 72	0	65
73 to 75	0	5
76 to 78	2	44
79 to 81	1	5
82 to 84	12	44
85 to 87	1	5
88 to 90	0	26
91 to 93	0	4
94 to 96	0	24
97 to 99	8	8
100 to 102	14	51
103 to 105	0	18
106 to 108	3	16
109 to 111	2	37
112 to 114	1	30
115 to 117	2	4
118 to 120	2	9
121 to 123	1	34
124 to 126	0	3
127 to 129	13	15

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, 14 are women's.

163 lines from women, 962 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

6 women and 19 men in the cast. 5 women and 12 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 1,156. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 99 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 16% of the words (1,758), men 84% (9,007). Women have 14% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Curtis Hanson (man)
Written by: Steve Kloves (man)
From the novel by: Michael Chabon (man)
Produced by: Curtis Hanson (man), Scott Rudin (man)
Shot by: Dante Spinotti (man)
Edited by: Dede Allen (woman)
Music by: Christopher Young (man)
Production design by: Jeannine Oppewall (woman)
Costumes by: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor (woman)
Cast by: Mali Finn (woman)

The crew, department by department

Production

1 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
Directing

1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
Art

1 women, 2 men
Sound

1 women, 2 men
Other crew

0 women, 1 men, 1 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: 32 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Katie Holmes 21, Jane Adams 34, Frances McDormand 42

Men

Tobey Maguire 24, Michael Cavadias 30, Robert Downey Jr. 34, Richard Thomas 48, Michael Douglas 55, Rip Torn 69

Exhibit G: the money

It made 96% of what it cost.

Budget: $35 million
Box office: $33.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 129 scenes and 1,156 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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