Passes the Bechdel test

Youth in Revolt

Name: Youth in Revolt
Released: 2010

2010. Directed by Miguel Arteta, written by Gustin Nash and C.D. Payne.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 222.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

At 16, Nick Twisp is wry about his teen funk: he lives in Oakland with his sex-addled mother; his father's child support is her meal ticket. While camping in Ukiah, Nick meets Sheeni: for him, it's love at first sight. Nick has to figure out how to get his father a job in Ukiah, then how to get sent to live with his father, then how to get close to Sheeni, whose religious parents may want her sent away from temptation to a boarding school. There's also Sheeni's all-American boyfriend to contend with. Overwhelmed by the challenges, Nick's about to give up when he conjures an alter ego who whispers revolt into his ear. Nick is not altogether hapless, but can this end well?

Released: 08 Jan 2010
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.4 / 10
Metascore: 63 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Nick 429 lines, man
Sheeni 165 lines, woman
Estelle 72 lines, woman
Lefty 65 lines, man
Jerry 35 lines, man
George 30 lines, man
Vijay 28 lines, man
Lacey 23 lines, woman
Dwayne 18 lines, man
Joanie 17 lines, woman

Full cast, 31 people

Michael Cera as Nick Twisp / François Dillinger
Portia Doubleday as Sheeni Saunders
Jean Smart as Estelle Twisp
M. Emmet Walsh as Mr. Saunders
Steve Buscemi as George Twisp
Adhir Kalyan as Vijay Joshi
Fred Willard as Mr. Ferguson
Ray Liotta as Lance Wescott
Zach Galifianakis as Jerry
Erik Knudsen as Lefty
Ari Graynor as Lacey
Justin Long as Paul Saunders
Rooney Mara as Taggarty
Jade Fusco as Bernice Lynch
Lise Lacasse as Matron
Mary Kay Place as Mrs. Saunders
Jonathan B. Wright as Trent
Michael Collins as Old Man
Gregory F. Anderson as Sailor #1
Connell Brown as Sailor #2
Randy Godwin as Officer #1
Tony Fanning as Officer #2
Francine Roussel as Headmistress
Chuy Chávez as Illegal Immigrant #1
Miguel Arteta as Illegal Immigrant #2
Bruce Lawson as Officer A. Fanning
Sudhi Rajagopal as Officer T. Cahill
Roz Music as Store Clerk
Christa B. Allen as Teenage Girl
Trevor Duke-Moretz as Jock Guy
JoAnn Fregalette Jansen as Sheeni Consultant

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 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 222

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 5	0	14
6 to 10	2	16
11 to 15	4	38
16 to 20	7	12
21 to 25	2	1
26 to 30	15	15
31 to 35	13	13
36 to 40	4	8
41 to 45	15	10
46 to 50	2	2
51 to 55	12	11
56 to 60	14	15
61 to 65	3	5
66 to 70	29	29
71 to 75	3	8
76 to 80	3	6
81 to 85	14	20
86 to 90	2	10
91 to 95	3	36
96 to 100	8	12
101 to 105	1	21
106 to 110	13	35
111 to 115	3	23
116 to 120	4	31
121 to 125	5	19
126 to 130	4	3
131 to 135	7	16
136 to 140	6	20
141 to 145	7	15
146 to 150	13	24
151 to 155	0	14
156 to 160	1	7
161 to 165	6	26
166 to 170	17	26
171 to 175	5	5
176 to 180	3	18
181 to 185	23	31
186 to 190	7	13
191 to 195	0	9
196 to 200	0	1
201 to 205	0	0
206 to 210	0	7
211 to 215	0	6
216 to 220	20	24
221 to 222	2	6

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

MRS. SAUNDERS: RAPE! RAAAAAPE! SHEENI: Get out quick!

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.

302 lines from women, 681 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 16 men in the cast. 5 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 21 of 1,025. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 43 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 32% of the words (3,365), men 68% (7,130). Women have 31% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

1 of the 7 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Miguel Arteta (man)
Written by: Gustin Nash (man)
From the novel by: C.D. Payne (gender not listed)
Produced by: David Permut (man)
Shot by: Chuy Chávez (gender not listed)
Edited by: Pamela Martin (woman)
Music by: John Swihart (man)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Production

0 women, 4 men
Writing

0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
Directing

0 women, 1 men
Editing

1 women, 0 men
Sound

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 39 on average. Men: 45 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Portia Doubleday 21, Jean Smart 57

Men

Michael Cera 21, Erik Knudsen 21, Adhir Kalyan 26, Zach Galifianakis 39, Steve Buscemi 51, Ray Liotta 54, M. Emmet Walsh 74, Fred Willard 75

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.1 times what it cost.

Budget: $18 million
Box office: $19.7 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 222 scenes and 1,025 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf