Summer is the time of year when big male-dominated action blockbusters roam the multiplexes like lumbering dinos in “Jurassic World.” Which means we can expect more harebrained movies based on toys or video games, more buddy comedies, more Marvel/DC flicks. In other words, more dudes.

Which means that summer, like Oscar season, features much hand-wringing about movies failing the so-called Bechdel test.

Quick refresher: The Bechdel test first appeared in a 1985 comic strip by Alison Bechdel (who’d go on to create the graphic novel “Fun Home”) in which a woman explained to a friend how she picked movies. She needed at least two female characters who speak to each other about something other than a man.

In recent years, the Bechdel test has entered the mainstream — it was even a joke in an episode of “Fresh Off the Boat”: “We’re talking about something other than a man. It’s called the Bechdel test. We’d tell you more, but then we’d fail” — and it’s become a tool used by those who want better representation of women in Hollywood movies. Of course, that’s a worthy battle, because based on what it cranks out, Hollywood is run by half-wildling MBAs and frat bros whose experience with women appears to be mostly virtual — so they write female characters badly or leave them out of movies altogether.

But making the Bechdel test a litmus test isn’t necessarily a good idea, because artistry isn’t taken into account. A movie can fail the test and still be good, leading to absurd dismissals. Without going back to “Citizen Kane” (fail), you could easily argue that, say, “The Godfather” or “Gravity” are good movies, yet they fail the test.

John Woo’s movies? Nary a woman in sight, still great.

“The Hurt Locker”? Directed by a woman, great — and failing the test.

Saying it fails the Bechdel test shouldn’t be your only line of attack against a movie, just as a movie can’t be praised merely for passing the test.

And then there are bad movies that do pass the test. Props to Jessica Alba, Carla Gugino, Rosario Dawson and Alexis Bledel, but “Sin City” is terrible. Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh have non-men-related chats in “Sideways,” but the movie’s aged as badly as a middle-aged guy’s fantasy.

What about “Showgirls,” which passes the test with flying colors but has been accused of misogyny? I’m a big fan, but many women don’t share my love.

Saying it fails the Bechdel test shouldn’t be your only line of attack against a movie, just as a movie can’t be praised merely for passing the test. In either case, the test is simplistic.

But what we keep circling back to is the simmering rage when Memorial Day comes around, and once again we’re faced with weeks and weeks of frustration: movies where women are only there to be girlfriends, to be saved by a guy, to cry on the phone when their guy’s dying, or to just fulfill a quota because one is better than none, right? Just look at the poster for “Now You See Me 2”: Of the nine characters, there’s only one woman. They couldn’t find another female magician or four? Same deal on posters for “Star Trek Beyond”: as many as six men, never more than one woman.

What about the “Ghostbusters” reboot, then? Yay, we ladies get a tent pole of our own!

But wait — what do we do if we don’t think it’s funny? Can Alison Bechdel help us with that one?