Continuity mistake: When TC steals the Monet, he places the painting in the briefcase and closes the case breaking the frame in half and thus ripping the edges of the painting. When at home he opens the briefcase and the frame is obviously crooked but when he holds the painting up to place it above the fireplace it is perfectly intact and the painting is not damaged. (00:20:10 - 00:22:30)
Continuity mistake: In the opening sequence, when Crown decides to walk and has "Jimmy" meet him at the office, he is almost run down by a truck. First of all, the truck has to skid to a stop, yet there is a car no more than ten feet in front of it when they change camera angle. Why was the truck going so fast in the first place. Secondly, when Crown motions for the driver to pass, the same car is still stopped directly in front of the truck, yet the truck speeds off in a way that it should smash into the car in front of it. (00:02:45)
Continuity mistake: When the "thieves" are preparing the impressionist wing and inform Thomas Crown that the exhibit is closed, Crown responds with "It's only a quarter to five". Shortly after when the surveillance footage from the time of the robbery is being reviewed, the time stamp on the monitor says 5:54. I doubt that the whole robbery took 1 hour 9 mins, when the time in the movie was around 3 minutes. (00:17:40 - 00:28:30)
Continuity mistake: When TC and Catherine Banning are having breakfast together at TC's house, Paul brings Catherine her green shake to drink. In one of the first shots, the glass is only about two-thirds of the way full, however, in the next shot, when she goes to take her first sip of it, the glass is almost filled to the top. The color of the green shake also changes slightly. (01:02:25)
Continuity mistake: In the glider scenes, the shots from the front show the sighting window in the canopy placed on the right side of the glider. But in the shots from the side, it is correctly placed on the left side.
Continuity mistake: During the scene when Thomas Crown is sailing, you can see the weather change from very dark and stormy, to just cloudy, to blue sky and sun, depending on the shot. (00:36:30)
Continuity mistake: When Thomas and Catherine are having breakfast and his servant Paul brings Catherine's special "green" drink, it changes colors. When Paul has it on the tray and sets it down on the table, it is a very deep olive green. When she goes to actually drink it, it's now a light pastel turquoise blue color. (01:02:20)
Continuity mistake: When TC opens the briefcase to steal the Monet, the thumb of his latex glove is ripped wide open, which would leave fingerprints. After he places the painting in the briefcase, the next shot shows him closing the brief case and the glove has magically repaired itself. (00:20:10)
Continuity mistake: When Crown's attempting to repeat his golf shot, he flattens the ball into the sand. Then when we see the club hit the ball, suddenly it's on top of the sand.
Continuity mistake: The Jeep and Cobra Mustang are shown covered in mud as they climb the hill to the house in Martinique, however when they arrive at the top, they are clean again.
Continuity mistake: When they land in Martinique, and are on the airstrip loading up the vehicles, their luggage and the painting go into the second vehicle, a shiny black jeep. However, when they show the aerial shot of them climbing the mountain to Crown's house, the jeep is now painted in camouflage colors. (01:08:10 - 01:08:55)
Continuity mistake: Thomas Crown comes into the police station to identify the thieves. As he is getting ready to leave, Catherine eavesdrops on his conversation as she fixes herself a cup of coffee. She then watches him out the window, drinking her coffee, as he runs to his car. The paper coffee cup changes from a purple swirl design with a little bit of green to a blue and white, geometric border with what appears to be an Asian design. (00:32:30)
Continuity mistake: When Crown returns home straight after stealing the Monet, the high external shot shows him open the door with his left hand. In the next internal shot he is opening it with his right hand. (00:21:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene at the of the movie where Catherine is whispering in the ear of Thomas, you can see that the ear is not from Thomas. Compare the ear with earlier scenes and its clear this must must be someone else.
Continuity mistake: In the first scene in the gallery when TC is admiring the Haystacks painting, he is preparing to eat a croissant. In the shot looking at him face on, he maneuvers the croissant into position in the bag it is in, so that he can begin to eat it. However, in the next shot - a longer distance profile shot - just after he answers Bobby's question, he is already chewing on a mouthful and starting to tear another piece off. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: The theft occurs on one of the hottest days of the year, as pointed out by the guards. When Katherine arrives that night, she is wearing a coat. The investigation lasts a week or two, and throughout that time, they wear jackets and even top coats. Katherine's breath is frosty in the air a week or so after the theft. The weather apparently went from really hot to really cold in a week or so - NY weather may fluctuate a bit, but not to that extent.
Continuity mistake: When he first sits in the museum, his watch shows about 4:30. Next scene, as the truck pulls into the museum, the clock on the right wall shows either 1:30 or 6:05. Next scene as he walks into the office and says good morning, it's shortly before 12 noon. (00:02:29 - 00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: The number of plastic self-adhesive stickers attached to the left side of the contract change. After the contract is flopped onto the table and just before Crown signs it, the first side view (very quickly) shows 3 stickers attached to the left side of the paper with red on the bottom. Crown pulls the pen from his jacket. No one touches the contract. The second view shows 2 tabs attached at the same place with red on the top. (00:00:08 - 00:07:58)
Continuity mistake: In the glider scene, Thomas Crown's watch switches back and forth between his right and left wrists.
Continuity mistake: When Renee is sipping coffee and watching Thomas Crown far below on the street running to his car, in her first look, the car is parked at a 45° angle headfirst against a rounded curb with two police cars to its left, but in the second snippet, when she looks, his car is parked across a street, as any car would be parked and with a sidewalk to its right. The rounded curb scene and the two cop cars are gone.
Answer: On the commentary track for the DVD the director states that he has no idea how Thomas Crown stole the final painting.