Murder by Numbers (2002) - 20 mistakes

Continuity: In the scene where Justin arrives home from school, Richard is on his bed wearing a black hooded top and long coat. The camera angle cuts to beside the bed, and Richard is only wearing the black hoodie (it goes just to his waist), then as he stands up he is wearing the long coat again.

Continuity: When Richard hugs Justin as they are talking about evidence Justin is giving away to the police, Justin's head moves from on Richard's shoulder to buried in his chest and back.

Continuity: After Cassie and Sam have interviewed Richie and are reviewing the information at Cassie's desk, at the end of the scene the papers on Cassie's desk change between a shot on her face and another from behind her.

Continuity: In the scene where Cass first goes through Carl Hudson's file, she is looking at pictures of Jane Doe. The pictures on the tabletop completely change between the first shot and the second, but the same paperwork is visible at the bottom of the screen both times so it's not two different areas.

Visible crew/equipment: On the DVD version, in the scene where Richard and Justin are arguing outside of the cottage near their cars, Justin slaps Richard. The shot immediately following, in which Richard is shown almost falling to the ground, you can see the microphone in the center on the bottom of the screen.

Continuity: Justin's pop quiz changes significantly between when he is looking at it and when Lisa shows him the completed quiz. Though the handwriting on his name stays the same (indicating that she made alterations to his actual quiz and not a new copy), the period number and answer circles both change in location and intensity.

Continuity: In the scene where Richard confronts Cassie in her car outside the restaurant, she pushes him away from her window and gets out of the car. When she says, "there was a killer at your school...", we see Richard with his arms down by his side. In the next shot a split-second later, his right arm is up against the car, behind Cassie's head. We didn't see him motion in towards the car or hear the leather of his jacket moving, had he raised his arm.

Continuity: Near the end, in the house on the bluff, when Richard hands the pistol to Justin, we see him taking it with his left hand. The next shot, from a different angle, shows Justin taking it with his right hand.

Continuity: When Cass opens Carl Hudson's file for the first time, she leaves several white pieces of paper on the tabletop, but the next shot shows that only the photographs of Jane Doe are on the table.

Continuity: At Lisa's house, right after Justin stops in the living room, Lisa's arms flit from on her hips to flat at her sides.

Factual error: When the kid is trying to get the girl to come into his car, he is listening to Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, and the editing is terrible. It jumps from the middle of the recital from the book of Revelations at the beginning to the opening guitar riff and then far to early into the famous lengthly scream by Bruce Dickinson.

Revealing: In the shot where Sandra Bullock revisits the site where she was dumped years ago, you see her car pull up on what is supposed to be a moonlit road. As she gets out of her car, her shadow goes from left to right across the screen but the large tree on the left is casting a shadow in the opposite direction. As she passes the front of her car, no shadow is cast from the headlights and when she reaches the edge of the road, her shadow disappears completely.

Continuity: In the police chief's office, the chief asks, "Do you know who this kid's father is? Lawrence Haywood. he built the mall..." Later at the restaurant Cassie mentions Richard and the maitre'd enquires, "MILES Haywood's kid?"

Continuity: When Richard is chewing out Justin for giving away information, he switches from standing facing Justin squarely and standing with one shoulder forward. He also switches from gesturing with his right hand to his left.

Continuity: When Richard and Justin are talking about whether they can be tied to the crime scene by the puke, Justin switches from looking down in shots on him to looking at Richard in shots on Richard.

Continuity: In the scene when Richard rings a lawyer friend, he is out in the street using a public phone, when a guy on a bike goes by. The scene then cuts to the man in the office and back to Richard and the same guy goes by again.

Continuity: In the first scene at the cliff house, as Richie tells Justin "Let's forget it," Justin switches from looking at Richie to looking at the floor and then turning to him.

Other: When the rich kid with the fancy sports car is trying to get Lisa into his car outside school, watch the speed of passing objects when the camera is on the guy. The objects are moving past at at least twice the speed that Lisa is walking.

Continuity: In the scene where Sandra Bullock is sitting on her couch watching TV and her partner comes in, she has a blanket wrapped around her. She pulls her left arm out of the blanket to grab her partner but in the next shot it's back under the blanket.

Continuity: When Cassie and her partner are at her house, she offers him a cookie, then puts the bag on the table. Sometimes the front of the bag is facing outwards and sometimes the back, although no one touches it.