Deep Impact

Plot hole: The government would have no chance of hiding the existence of the comet for a year. Most comets are discovered when they are very faint, literally thousands of times fainter than Wolf-Beiderman when Leo found it. Long before the events in the film take place, probably even before the government itself would be notified, the comet would have been discovered, an orbit calculated, and people panicked. The whole premise of the first half of the movie is thus based on flawed logic.

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Suggested correction: Only 3-4% of the visible universe has been discovered. Meaning this comet could have been discovered much later.

Plot hole: The time and distance of the movie doesn't make sense. The comet was only 3.7 million miles away from Earth when the Messiah mission failed. That is about 1/10th the distance to Mars. They should have been able to put more contingency plans into place. Also, it took the Messiah 5 months to reach the comet which means it was only going 1,033 mph, which is very slow for spacecraft.

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Mistakes

Factual error: When Sarah's family is fleeing Richmond, the highway sign says "Interstate 66." That highway is about a hundred miles north of Richmond; it starts in Washington DC. Another highway sign says "Virginia Beach 12 miles", which is the wrong way when fleeing Richmond westward.

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Suggested correction: The sign says "Virginia Beaches," not Virginia Beach, so it could be anywhere in Virginia that has beaches.

Living in Virginia, there is no sign that says "Virginia Beaches 6 miles." "Virginia Beach" is a large city at the SE corner of Virginia and is more than 10 miles across. Any sign referencing the actual beach says "oceanfront x miles." Virginia Beach also has the tallest building in Virginia, the Westin hotel in downtown.

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Quotes

President Beck: We always thought the deadline for public knowledge was the publication of next year's budget since we've spent more money than we can account for. That won't happen for two weeks. I don't suppose I could prevail upon you to wait two weeks in the name of national security?
Jenny Lerner: Two weeks? There's no such thing as two weeks in the news business.

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Trivia

Trivia: When everyone gets out of their cars in the traffic jam and watches the comet pass overhead, they were really looking at a crew helicopter passing over. In post production, the helicopter was covered up with the comet.

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Questions

Question: How does the government hear about the comet? The scientist saves the information to a disk then takes the disk in the car with him. He crashes and the car catches fire. The disk would have been destroyed.

Answer: It could have been salvaged and worked on, plus he was calling people in authority. There would have been an investigation into the crash, which leads back the young boy and the comet.

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