Fails the Bechdel test
Year One
2009. Directed by Harold Ramis, written by Harold Ramis and Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 7 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Zed, a prehistoric would-be hunter, eats from a tree of forbidden fruit and is banished from his tribe, accompanied by Oh, a shy gatherer. On their travels, they meet Cain and Abel on a fateful day, stop Abraham from killing Isaac, become slaves, and reach the city of Sodom where their tribe is now enslaved. Zed and Oh are determined to rescue the women they love, Maya and Eema. Standing in their way is Sodom's high priest and the omnipresent Cain. Zed tries to form an alliance with Princess Innana, which may backfire. Can an inept hunter and a smart but slender and diffident gatherer become heroes and make a difference?
- Released
- 19 Jun 2009
- Genres
- Comedy
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 5 / 10
- Metascore
- 34 / 100
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Zed 328 lines, man
- Oh 154 lines, man
- Cain 87 lines, man
- Maya 47 lines, woman
- High Priest 36 lines, man
- Inanna 31 lines, woman
- Marlak 29 lines, man
- Abraham 27 lines, man
- Isaac 24 lines, man
- King 21 lines, man
Full cast, 46 people
- Jack Black as Zed
- Michael Cera as Oh
- Oliver Platt as High Priest
- David Cross as Cain
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Isaac
- Vinnie Jones as Sargon
- Hank Azaria as Abraham
- Juno Temple as Eema
- Olivia Wilde as Princess Inanna
- June Diane Raphael as Maya
- Xander Berkeley as King
- Gia Carides as Queen
- Horatio Sanz as Enmebaragesi
- David Pasquesi as Prime Minister
- Matthew Willig as Marlak
- Harold Ramis as Adam
- Rhoda Griffis as Eve
- Gabriel Sunday as Seth
- Eden Riegel as Lilith
- Kyle Gass as Zaftig the Eunuch
- Bill Hader as Shaman
- Marshall Manesh as Slave Trader
- Rion Hunter as Bedouin Sheik
- Gene Stupnitsky as First Guard
- Lee Eisenberg as Sodom Sentry
- Eric Gipson as Sodom Vendor
- Lacie Manshack as Banana Girl
- Matt Besser as Guy in Crowd
- Drue Franklin as Squanto
- Weston Hollenshead as Kid Stoner
- Paul Scheer as Bricklayer
- Joaquin Townsend as Slave Child
- Bryan Massey as New Guard
- Keet Davis as Desert Soldier
- Tim Hilton as Pedestrian Villager
- Ashley Nicole Caldwell as Gold Statue
- Mark Cotone as Angry Baker
- Jack Walker as Village Child
- Jamal Sims as Dancer
- Paul Benshoof as Dancer
- Kelly Connolly as Dancer
- Leslie Geldbach as Dancer
- Katherine Miller as Dancer
- Michael Morris as Dancer
- Sarah Christine Smith as Dancer
- Paul Rudd as Abel (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 52
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 | 20 | 57 |
| 3 to 4 | 1 | 73 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 29 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 61 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 33 |
| 11 to 12 | 5 | 9 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 15 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 to 18 | 7 | 40 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 17 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 24 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 20 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 38 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 30 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 34 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 22 |
| 33 to 34 | 13 | 30 |
| 35 to 36 | 5 | 21 |
| 37 to 38 | 20 | 58 |
| 39 to 40 | 10 | 9 |
| 41 to 42 | 7 | 20 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 8 |
| 45 to 46 | 1 | 52 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 32 |
| 49 to 50 | 4 | 17 |
| 51 to 52 | 11 | 74 |
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, 11 are women's.
107 lines from women, 826 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 27 men in the cast. 7 women and 34 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 976.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 188 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (1,189), men 92% (13,150). Women have 11% 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
83
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Harold Ramis (man)
- Written by
- Harold Ramis (man), Gene Stupnitsky (man), Lee Eisenberg (man)
- Produced by
- Clayton Townsend (man), Judd Apatow (man), Harold Ramis (man)
- Shot by
- Alar Kivilo (man)
- Edited by
- Craig Herring (man), Steve Welch (man)
- Music by
- Theodore Shapiro (man)
- Production design by
- Jefferson Sage (man)
- Costumes by
- Debra McGuire (woman)
- Cast by
- Jeanne McCarthy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
7 women, 13 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 12 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Juno Temple 19, Olivia Wilde 25, June Diane Raphael 29
Men
Christopher Mintz-Plasse 19, Michael Cera 21, Jack Black 39, Vinnie Jones 44, David Cross 45, Hank Azaria 45, Oliver Platt 49
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $60 million
- Box office
- $62.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 52 scenes and 976 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
