Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ruby and brother are driven to Terry's crash site the police cruiser changes from a 98 model to a 97 model. The vehicles headlights, front bumper and over all design are completely different.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ruby slashes the Volvo's tires, once the guys are gone she walks to the front of the garage and you can see she has bare feet. But when you see her drop the knife she is wearing green socks.
Factual error: The picture of the brakeline leaking is actually a fuel filter. The car would run out of gas. It would not have brake problems.
Continuity mistake: When Rhett tries to take Terry's car keys while he's drunk and asleep on the couch, Terry's hand is lying on the table between the car keys and a bottle of vodka on the corner of the table. Rhett reaches for the keys, then you see a close-up of his face, and when the camera goes back to his hand, the bottle of vodka has completely disappeared.
Continuity mistake: Toward the end when Ruby and her brother are being picked up by the police car, as he drives along the road, you see his license plate says 999028, then when he stops on the side of the road to check out the accident, it reads 999046.
Continuity mistake: When the loan shark and Terry are in the Jaguar and the car is increasing in speed, the loan shark looks down to see how fast the car is going. If you look at the mileage screen, you can see that it is blank.
Other mistake: When Ruby is signing onto America Online to check her mail you hear the dial-up sound before she even clicks on the sign on button.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ruby takes the paper out of the trashcan and puts it in the back part of her pants, she puts it in her pants twice.
Continuity mistake: When Ruby steals the Jaguar and smashes through the glass gate there is no damage done to the car. The Glasses chase after them and catch up at the police roadblock, we can see there is not a scratch on it.
Factual error: In the scene where Ruby and Rhett walk into their bedroom and they find a Nintendo 64 on the ground, Rhett immediately sits down and inserts a game. Within seconds, he's playing a game without even logging in or choosing a level and so forth.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Terry pretends to pass out, it shows a picture of the keys with nothing touching them. After the kid takes the keys, half of the keys are in Terry's hand.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the scene where Ruby goes to see her vice principal, only the back of the v. principal's chair is visible and you cannot see her head over it, but when the shot turns around to the front of the v. principal, she is clearly taller than the chair.
Continuity mistake: When Ruby walks to Terry's office to catch a ride home, you can see she walks in with a backpack on her back. When she is looking in the door crack to Terry's office, the backpack is on a table, but when Ruby leaves with Terry, she does not have the backpack with her.
Other mistake: In the scene where Ruby is writing her parent's lawyer an email, there are no cables connected to the computer she's using, and still she's able to get online. She can't be using an airport, because then you wouldn't get the dialling tone.
Other mistake: When Rhett sees Terry coming up from the car accident that he was in and tells Ruby, she jumps in the front seat of the car. The car is in park, but she moves the lever up, which would mean the car was in the drive position already.
Continuity mistake: When Terry arrives in the kitchen where Ruby was listening to his conversation, the light on the phone was on. A minute later when he walks out, the light is off again.
Continuity mistake: When one of the thugs stabs the attorney at the Glass House, you see no blood on the knife. In the next shot you see the man wiping the blood off the knife. (03:17:25)
Answer: Terry told them when they first moved in that it was only going to be temporary so that they would think that they would eventually get separate rooms, but I think they always intended to keep Ruby and Rhett together in the same room so that they could easily monitor their movements. The only reason they quickly knocked up a second room (for Ruby) for when the social worker came, was to carry on the charade of being responsible guardians for them, and they knew if the social worker saw that a teenage girl and her younger brother were sharing, it would raise red flags, and they needed everyone to believe that they were responsible enough guardians, so that they could keep the kids and eventually get their hands on the trust.