The Movie Mistakes blog

When David is looking for ice, the fridge door shelves are full of food. When Connie puts the bottle into the fridge, the door shelves are virtually empty.

When the President holds his frightened daughter, in the shot after the alien craft creates a shadow over the White House, there are photographs and a bust of Lincoln on the table beside the President - the view of the photos is not blocked by anything. In the very next close-up of the photos, things differ, such as a large framed photo of the President with the Dalai Lama that appears out of nowhere, between the photo of the First Lady and the photo of the Pope.

When Jeff Goldblum is throwing a tantrum in the hangar housing the captured alien craft, he knocks over several plastic garbage cans, one of which is clearly labelled "Art Dept" - kind of odd for a top secret underground government military research facility...(unless the can is from the Aircraft Recovery and Transport department that brought the alien ship into the hangar, in which case, it's just fine ).

When Captain Hiller is dragging the unconscious alien across the desert, the sky alternates between overcast and perfectly sunny depending on if it's a close up or far off view of Hiller.

When Russell boards the F/A-18 and when he is airborne - such as when he salutes Major Mitchell (who is back at command center), he wears his Hawaiian style short-sleeve shirt and is gloveless. After he says, "Eagle 20, Fox 2," in the close-up as he presses the launch button (resulting in launch failure), the arm shown wears both a green jumpsuit and gloves, neither of which Russell actually wears.

When Jimmy and Steven climb into the F/A-18 cockpits, there are various stickers on the backs of their seats which completely differ when they are airborne.

At the club, in Jasmine's dressing room, there are either two nail polish remover bottles beside the TV, or two white bottles - one large, one small, depending on the angle of the shot.

When Julius and David pull up beside the White House gate, David places the device on the Plymouth's hood to triangulate Connie's position inside. The device's position on the car's hood differs between the close-up and wideshot - note the car door.

When David is getting drunk and he's talking to Connie, at one point he slams the bottle down on the counter and a little liquor sprays up out the opening. Then they talk for a second, and he picks the bottle back up to pour himself more, but he now needs to unscrew the cap which was just lying next to the bottle.

When David is explaining to the President about the aliens' intentions with Earth's satellites, he draws two lines that start at the destroyer and go off straight both edging off Earth. But when he places the paper back on the desk to draw in the satellites, the left lines have risen away from the Earth.