Continuity mistake: When Grubitz talks to Wiesler in the cafe, the amount of beer in their glasses keeps changing.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Robert Thorn arrives at the US embassy after the nanny's suicide, he gets out of the car and points at the Saudi ambassador, who can be seen in the next few shots right behind him. But in the crane-shot when Robert Thorn walks up the staircase, the Saudi ambassador and his entourage can not be seen until the last moment of the shot, when the ambassador bobs his head on the left edge of the screen.
Factual error: When Hope is driving the pickup in the car chase, she yanks the parking brake, causing a tank of propane to fly out the tailgate and into the car that is chasing her. This is completely impossible. The tank would have slid in the other direction (forward) and slammed into the back of the cab when she slowed down. (00:38:10)
Visible crew/equipment: After Tom Skerritt turns to find Ron Perlman waiting for him on the road he stops walking on an easy to see white T mark on the ground.
Factual error: The movie is supposed to be set in South Carolina and shows license plates on the front of cars. But cars in South Carolina don't have license plates on the front.
Revealing mistake: Near the end, when the captain is walking out of the labyrinth holding the baby, you can tell it's a dummy. The baby does not move in the slightest, you can't even see it breathe.
Factual error: In the scene where Eric and Chrissie are by the pool, the song "All Right Now" by Free begins to play in the background. The movie is set in July 1969, and this song wasn't released until mid-1970.
Continuity mistake: When Felicia and Brenda run into Lorraine behind the Armstrong homes, Lorraine pushes between them and walks a few steps. In the next shot, when she turns to say, "You stay away from my child," she is suddenly in Brenda's face, but in the following shot she is about ten feet away when she resumes walking. (00:48:30)
Visible crew/equipment: Near the end of the film, Chief Inspector Uhl is in Prince Leopold's office. In the close-up shot when the two argue, you can view the boom mic, going from one character to the other, in the reflection on the brass table lamp.
Other mistake: The same shot of two guys looking at a computer while sitting outside on the school campus is used in two different scenes. (00:02:15 - 00:11:35)
Continuity mistake: While the gang are trapped in the water, baby Sarah is sleeping soundly on the boat but her pacifier comes and goes.
Continuity mistake: The crescent-shaped scar which bisects the protagonist's right eyebrow in many scenes appears instead on the left eyebrow in many others. Same size and shape, but looking as if photo-reversed; for instance, when his face appears from the darkness to sniff over the shoulder of the red-haired girl, the scar is in the right eye-brow. But during the scene in the plaza before a huge crowd (the hanging scene) the scar is over his left eye.
Continuity mistake: At the very beginning of the movie, when Kim Basinger is in the bedroom and walking towards the mirror, the movements of her reflection do not match her movements. She stops moving and her reflection continues to move. (00:04:25)
Continuity mistake: In the garage scene, 02 pulls a pistol from the guy he beat to the floor and stuffs it into his pants quickly as his girl starts trying to kick the guy on the floor. when he stuffed the pistol into his pants the grip was pointing to his right pocket. With the quick struggle the shot changes back to the pistol in his pants and now the grip is pointing towards his left pocket, and no one touched it.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the guy and the girl are making out on the bed, they trigger a bell to ring in Kane's lair. The bell shown ringing is a large bell on the far left top row of two rows of bells. When he walks into the room to see which bell is ringing, the bell ringing is a small bell in the middle of the bottom row and the large bell isn't moving at all. Later in the movie, that same large bell is triggered when the kids are walking down the hall and hit a trip wire, and it makes a completely different sound than the first time.
Continuity mistake: When the guys in the Impalas are chasing Chevy and his girlfriend from the sweatshop, the last car hits the fence. Right before the car hits the fence a guy is hanging out of the window (meaning it's open). After Chevy walks up and finishes the guys off and turns around the angle changes with the car behind him and the window is up. Chevy would have shot it out EVEN IF the guy rolled it up. (01:03:30)
Audio problem: When the children run out of the garden, the girl is screaming, but her mouth is not open.
Continuity mistake: In the woods on the island, when Edward first meets Sister Willow, he is about to close his sports coat, and in the next shot of him, the sports coat is buttoned up. After a quick shot of Sister Willow, in the next shot of Edward, his coat is entirely unbuttoned and open again.
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, two people are dragging a coffin through the desert. After first seeing only their boots, when we see the two guys, the one wearing a white shirt is on the left, and the one with a red shirt on the right. But in the very next shot their positions have changed, now the man with the white shirt is on the left while the one with the red shirt is on the right.
Deliberate mistake: There is a huge security breach in the scene with Robin Williams and Christopher Walkin walking at night. The Security SUV limousine is more than 30 metres away from them. It should be pacing them in case of an emergency and be right next to them on the sidewalk. It appears the reason it is so far back is because at the camera angle the scene is shot at, it makes for a good background element which you would not see if the Secret Service followed protocol.