Elf

Elf (2003)

45 mistakes - chronological order

(40 votes)

Continuity mistake: In the very beginning, when the nun puts the baby in the crib, she puts a blanket on him he pushes it down to his feet, then the camera goes to the nun walking out of the room, and when we see the baby again the blanket is covering him again. (00:04:25)

Revealing mistake: In the beginning of the movie, there is a scene where Buddy hits his head on the roof of the house as he's running out. You can obviously see a machine pushed the snow forward to land on his head. [May be easier to see in fullscreen version]. (00:12:40)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Buddy is singing along with Jovie (who is in the shower), it shows Jovie singing and her hair is obviously wet. However, when she stops singing because she hears Buddy, the shot cuts to Buddy on the counter, then back to her. Her hair is dry and stringy on the bottom. It is more obvious when she sticks her head out of the shower. (00:32:30)

Continuity mistake: In the scene when Jovie is asking Buddy why he was in the girls locker room, the amount of people in the background changes each time it cuts back from Buddy to Jovie. It goes from originally five people to three, back to five and so on. This is obviously a mistake because the characters in the background are the same when it's five and the same when it's three. (00:35:00 - 00:36:20)

Brandon Harwood

Continuity mistake: When Buddy eats dinner with his dad and "family", there is a piece of bread in front of the dad that has a bite taken out of it. Throughout the scene the bread changes positions. (00:43:30)

Continuity mistake: When Emily is eating spaghetti, you can see she is only using a fork and there is a knife next to the plate. In the next shot the knife is now on the plate despite the fact she only uses the fork to eat throughout the scene (also there is no sauce on the knife so very doubtful she used it to help her eat the spaghetti). In the following shot of her the knife is back by the side of her plate again. (00:44:55)

Lummie

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Buddy's Dad is talking to his manager about the missing pages in the book, and how the manager thinks that the company will post a minus eight for the quarter and storms out of the room, Buddy's Dad's arm is resting on a piece of paper that is almost directly in the center of the table, and after it cuts to the manager and back to Buddy's Dad, the piece of paper is close to falling off the table. (00:51:10)

Elf mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Buddy and Michael are leaving the school, a crew member is visible in the bottom left of the shot. At first, he is just standing there, but he then tries to hide inside a doorway. (00:52:00)

Other mistake: When Buddy's brother is reading Santa's list he reads the newscaster's wish he looks and mutters something about letters meaning they were in alphabetical order. However when he is saying random names he does not turn the page and the names are not in alphabetical order. (01:23:00)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: After he says each name, it cuts to that person and their reaction. Most of which was done without going back to Michael. Therefore, we can't say he didn't turn the pages.

lartaker1975

Continuity mistake: The scene in James Caan's publishing conference room when Buddy and Myles Finch are wrestling results in Buddy's foot hitting the far left picture of three pictures on the wall. The picture comes crashing down and you hear breaking glass. The next shot reveals the fallen picture back up on the wall unbroken. It is followed by the next shot showing the picture gone off the wall again.

Continuity mistake: In the scene in Central Park as Santa speaks with Michael, Santa's arm is either on the book of Christmas lists, or off it, as the scenes switch between looking over Michael's shoulder and over Santa's shoulder.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Buddy and Walter are on the landing of the stairwell at the police station, the view looking down on the duo shows Walter close to the wall and window, while the view of Walter's back shows both of them closer to the stairs and further from the window.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Buddy has made breakfast for the family, Emily eats the spaghetti taking from the side of the plate and does not touch the top. When the camera goes back to the plate the spaghetti has been all stirred up with the sauce now mixed in, instead of just piled on top.

Continuity mistake: Right before Buddy drinks the bottle of soda pop, the bottle is across the table, next to Michael. The next shot shows Buddy drinking (quick grab). In the next few shots, the empty bottle appears and disappears next to Buddy while he's belching.

Ral0618

Revealing mistake: While we see Buddy drinking the entire bottle of Coke, it is quite obvious that he is not actually drinking it. Buddy has his lips firmly sealed around the end of the bottle and gulps down the entire lot. If he was drinking it, the bottle would have caved in as no air was getting inside. It was not even possible for him to blow air from his nose back into the bottle due to the fact that he is continuously gulping.

Scrappy

Deliberate mistake: In the orphanage scene, Santa's bag drops dead center in the fireplace. The noise of the impact gets baby Buddy's attention in a quick shot, and the camera shifts back to the fireplace. Now, the bag has shifted to the viewer's left when Santa's boots are coming down. The shift of the bag is presumably to make room for the boots coming down the chimney.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Jovie kisses Buddy at the skating rink, her left hand is wrapped around Buddy's neck. The next shot of Jovie finishing her kiss has her hand in a different position.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Walter is apologizing to Buddy in Central Park, the view over Walter's right shoulder shows he and Buddy looking at each other almost at eye-level. However, the scenes over Buddy's left shoulder shows him towering over Walter and Walter is also looking up at Buddy.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: In the meeting scene with Miles Finch, Walter is speaking to Buddy. Behind Walter, Finch's right hand is resting on the edge of the table. The next shot shows Finch's same hand resting on his notebook.

Scott215

Buddy: We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

More quotes from Elf
More trivia for Elf

Question: When The Central Park Rangers are called in action it mentions the Simon and Garfunkel concert and their actions being under speculation - was this a real event (their questionable actions), and if so what was the problem, or was it just a fictional jokey reference?

Answer: This was a real event. The Simon and Garfunkel free concert drew a crowd of over half a million people and the Central Park Rangers were investigated for being a little "over-enthusiastic" in their methods of crowd control. It was 1981 though, not 1985 as stated.

Absolutely correct and thank you - I was there at the concert and it was 1981. I love the movie Elf but that incorrect reference is a slight irritant - LOL.

Answer: I believe that this refers to an incident I was involved in. I was a new ranger riding Captain Cutter, an ex-race horse that we had Nick named Captain Goofy due to his propensity to suddenly spin in circles without warning. We were leading buses of handicapped people through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds when Goofy did his thing sending people scattering in all directions. It was over pretty quickly. I did not realise at the time that it was news.

More questions & answers from Elf

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.