Continuity mistake: During the sales trip the two main characters stop at a gas station to get gas. during this stop Tommy bends the door back and after some struggle gets it to the normal door position. Before Richard gets back to the car however there is a shot of the door all dented up but in place. When Richard pulls the door off it falls to the ground and there isn't a single dent on it. (Also, is it me or does it seem a little ridiculous that someone that loves his car so much didn't notice the large dent down the edge of the door as he faced it while walking from the station to the car?)
Continuity mistake: The deer knocks the rear-view mirror off the windshield, however, when the boys are driving down the highway and the car hood flies off, you can see the mirror again, then it's gone and then it's back again.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Tommy and his 'girlfriend' are sitting in the boat and about to get picked on by the kids on the shore, Tommy's Life jacket changes. One shot it's got a white line and a button on it and in the next shot, they're not there. Then the line and button show up again.
Continuity mistake: In the "fat guy in a little coat" scene, you can see Chris Farley's reflection in the window; he's wearing only a white T-shirt. When it cuts back to him, he's in David Spade's coat, trying to rip it.
Continuity mistake: At the end of scene 14, where Tommy is driving and the hood pops up, you can see a clear view of the motor, and there is no oil can. When they stop, after the hood gets ripped off, Richard points out the can.
Continuity mistake: When Tommy is changing in the small airplane bathroom, the tie that he has on before it gets stuck in the toilet is different then the one he has on after he gets it unstuck.
Continuity mistake: When Tommy is changing in the bathroom, there is some paper towels in the sink. In the next shot it dissapears, and then it comes back along with a coat hanger.
Continuity mistake: When Tommy and Richard pick up the hitchhiker, the close ups show the windshield with many more small spider cracks in it than later scenes with the car where you only see a few large cracks instead.
Continuity mistake: In the last scene of the movie Tommy is sitting in the boat on the lake with no wind. As he talks to his dad there is no rope above his shoulder in the pulley at the end of the boom. After the wind picks up and he gets hit in the head with the boom there is a rope on the pulley. (01:32:30)
Continuity mistake: When Richard and Tommy are trying to sell brake pads and Tommy eventually catches the model car on fire, Tommy eventually sets a blue model car on a pad of paper where a couple of things happen. First, when Tommy says "I CAN'T STOP!" the right front tire on the blue model is all of a sudden bent outward. After Tommy destroys and catches the other model on fire, not only does the tire fix itself, but the car changes positions on the pad of paper numerous times.
Continuity mistake: When Chris Farley and David Spade get into a fight on the side of the road and David Spade hits Farley with a 2x4...you can see and hear Spade drop the 2x4 twice. [He doesn't drop it twice. He breaks half of the board and if falls. Then he drops the other half.]
Continuity mistake: Tommy and Tom Sr. are celebrating the engagement and drinking champagne. In one shot, Tommy is holding the glass in one hand, while in the shot immediately following, he holds it in the other.
Continuity mistake: Three types of airplanes are used for the flight to Chicago. The exterior loading and taxi shots show a Boeing 747. The interior shots show another Boeing (the overhead bins, sidewall panels, etc., are distinctively Boeing), but it's smaller like a 767, because it only has 2 seats by the window and 3 in the center. The exterior shot in flight shows a Lockheed L1011, with its distinctive S-duct for the center engine.
Continuity mistake: When Tommy is in the airplane bathroom, his tie gets sucked into the toilet and stained with blue dye - in the next scene there's no stain on it, although it's the same tie.
Continuity mistake: When Tommy's "stepbrother", Paul, is shooting out the tyres he drops a cigar. When panned out there is no cigar on the ground.
Continuity mistake: Right before they hit the deer, the car's windshield is gone. After they hit the deer, it has returned.
Answer: A number of online explanations said it was because Lowe was already contractually tied to another project while this one was being filmed. Another explanation is that he was left uncredited so his appearance mid-film would come as a "surprise" when the plot took a different turn.
raywest ★
I read where his contract with the mini-series "The Stand" left him unable to take any credited roles. However, it seems "Tommy Boy" began filming after "The Stand" aired and he was credited for his role as Jesse James in "Frank and Jesse." However, it seems to be an Internet story where the source isn't credited.
Bishop73