Passes the Bechdel test

You Can Count on Me

Name: You Can Count on Me
Released: 2000

2000. Directed by Kenneth Lonergan, written by Kenneth Lonergan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
10 women characters. 7 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 171.
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

Adult siblings Sammy Prescott and Terry Prescott have had a special bond with each other since they were kids when their parents were tragically killed in a car accident. That bond is why single mom Sammy, who still lives in the family home in Scottsville, upstate New York with her eight year old son Rudy, is excited to hear that Terry, who she has not seen or heard from in a while, is coming home for a visit. That excitement is dampened slightly upon Terry's arrival, when she learns that he, broke, is only there to borrow money. As adults, Sammy, who works as a lending officer in the local bank, is seen as the responsible sibling, while unfocused Terry is seen as the irresponsible drifter. Regardless, Sammy welcomes what ends up being Terry's longer than planned visit if only so that he can help take care of Rudy, who has no adult male figure in his life. Rudy has never known his deadbeat biological father, with whom Sammy wants nothing to do. As Terry - acting as the supposed adult male role model figure - gets to know Rudy, and as Sammy deals with the issues in her life which includes figuring out what her relationship to longtime friend/lover Bob Steegerson means, and how to deal with her straight-laced micro-managing new boss Brian Everett, the maturity level between Sammy and Terry is not as far apart as it appears on the surface.

Released: 22 Dec 2000
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 85 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. 30 wins & 43 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Sammy 298 lines, woman
Terry 265 lines, man
Rudy 96 lines, man
Brian 81 lines, man
Bob 33 lines, man
Ron 18 lines, man
Rudy Sr 15 lines, man
Sheila 14 lines, woman
Sheriff 12 lines
Janie 9 lines, man

Full cast, 22 people

Laura Linney as Sammy
Mark Ruffalo as Terry
Matthew Broderick as Brian
Jon Tenney as Bob
Rory Culkin as Rudy
J. Smith-Cameron as Mabel
Josh Lucas as Rudy Sr.
Gaby Hoffmann as Sheila
Adam LeFevre as Sheriff Darryl
Amy Ryan as Mrs. Prescott
Michael Countryman as Mr. Prescott
Kenneth Lonergan as Ron
Halley Feiffer as Amy
Whitney Vance as Young Sammy
Peter Kerwin as Young Terry
Betsy Aidem as Minister
Lisa Altomare as Waitress
Nina Garbiras as Nancy
Richard Hummer as Plumber
Kim Parker as Rudy Sr.'s Girlfriend
Allan Gill as Older Cop
Brian Ramage as Young Cop

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 171

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	6	4
5 to 8	6	4
9 to 12	15	12
13 to 16	1	1
17 to 20	7	6
21 to 24	7	7
25 to 28	14	14
29 to 32	1	0
33 to 36	41	52
37 to 40	3	7
41 to 44	3	3
45 to 48	7	3
49 to 52	2	17
53 to 56	2	8
57 to 60	8	16
61 to 64	1	33
65 to 68	3	3
69 to 72	7	15
73 to 76	4	17
77 to 80	3	14
81 to 84	3	2
85 to 88	7	7
89 to 92	7	5
93 to 96	4	13
97 to 100	14	16
101 to 104	21	18
105 to 108	15	19
109 to 112	0	0
113 to 116	1	1
117 to 120	1	5
121 to 124	3	30
125 to 128	6	5
129 to 132	24	37
133 to 136	9	61
137 to 140	3	1
141 to 144	1	0
145 to 148	7	5
149 to 152	17	17
153 to 156	17	15
157 to 160	7	5
161 to 164	9	7
165 to 168	12	22
169 to 171	0	0

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.

MABEL: Guess who's been asking for you? SAMMY: Oh no, really?

SAMMY: God, Mabel, don't those colors hurt your eyes? MABEL: Oh no, they keep me fresh.

MABEL: Hi. NANCY: Nice to meet you.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.

329 lines from women, 527 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

10 women and 12 men in the cast. 7 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 57 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 38% of the words (3,485), men 62% (5,747).

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

5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 39% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan (man)
Written by: Kenneth Lonergan (man)
Produced by: Barbara De Fina (woman), John N. Hart (man), Larry Meistrich (man), Jeffrey Sharp (man)
Shot by: Stephen Kazmierski (man)
Edited by: Anne McCabe (woman)
Music by: Lesley Barber (woman)
Production design by: Michael Shaw (man)
Costumes by: Melissa Toth (woman)
Cast by: Lina Todd (woman)