Bechdel Test Movie List

The main character is female and speaks with female colleagues about a whole host of work issues. Female conversation is legitimately important in the film.

To add to Katherine's review, there are multiple named female characters who interact with each other (mainly Susan). Besides Susan herself, there is Nancy (her best friend), Rayna (the main antagonist), Elaine (her boss) and Karen (a work rival).

Passed the test with FLYING colors and was also thoroughly entertaining both as a comedy and as an action film. =)

To be honest, there weren't many scenes where men talked to other men. Did it fail the reverse bachdel test? I actually kind of want it too, because that would be an interesting statement.

It did pass the reverse test, iirc, there's a short moment where Jason Statham's character is rude to Jude Law.

The women in this film slate other women for being pretty in the workplace. The women are also subjected to degrading positions with men. How this passes a feminist test is surprising!

Of course it's a feminist film! Melissa McCarthy plays a strong female character who only wants to be a spy and complete the mission. There's only one real scene where Nancy and Susan bitch about a colleague. And while women are put in degrading positions, they deal with it with humor.

@Lisa, the Bechdel Test isn't a test to decide whether or not a film is ultimately sexist. The Bechdel Test sets the bar much lower and simply asks if the film involves (1) two female characters with names who (2) have a conversation with each other (3) about something other than a man. "Spy" therefore passes the Bechdel Test, but whether or not it is a feminist film is a more complicated issue because it does include perversive stereotypes about fat women (which it sometimes plays to and sometimes plays against), women in the workplace (again sometimes plays to and sometimes plays against), and features very few women of color from what I remember. Movies can pass the Bechdel Test and still be sexist. The Bechdel Test is the lowest standard for whether or not a movie contains dynamic female characters. It's a starting point, one that most major Hollywood films fail to meet.

@ms-nothing Thank you for your comment! Somehow shed some light on how I understand Bechdel Test :)