Continuity mistake: In the first scene at the cliff house, as Richie tells Justin "Let's forget it," Justin switches from looking at Richie to looking at the floor and then turning to him. (00:06:55)
Continuity mistake: Justin's pop quiz changes significantly between when he is looking at it and when Lisa shows him the completed quiz. Though the handwriting on his name stays the same (indicating that she made alterations to his actual quiz and not a new copy), the period number and answer circles both change in location and intensity. (00:11:50)
Continuity mistake: At Lisa's house, right after Justin stops in the living room, Lisa's arms flit from on her hips to flat at her sides. (00:16:10)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Cass first goes through Carl Hudson's file, she is looking at pictures of Jane Doe. The pictures on the tabletop completely change between the first shot and the second, but the same paperwork is visible at the bottom of the screen both times so it's not two different areas. (00:17:55)
Continuity mistake: When Cass opens Carl Hudson's file for the first time, she leaves several white pieces of paper on the tabletop, but the next shot shows that only the photographs of Jane Doe are on the table. (00:18:30)
Continuity mistake: After Cassie and Sam have interviewed Richie and are reviewing the information at Cassie's desk, at the end of the scene the papers on Cassie's desk change between a shot on her face and another from behind her. (00:36:00)
Continuity mistake: When Cassie and her partner are at her house, she offers him a cookie, then puts the bag on the table. Sometimes the front of the bag is facing outwards and sometimes the back, although no one touches it. (00:40:30)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Sandra Bullock is sitting on her couch watching TV and her partner comes in, she has a blanket wrapped around her. She pulls her left arm out of the blanket to grab her partner but in the next shot it's back under the blanket. (00:41:35)
Continuity mistake: When Richard and Justin are talking about whether they can be tied to the crime scene by the puke, Justin switches from looking down in shots on him to looking at Richard in shots on Richard. (01:05:05)
Continuity mistake: When Richard is chewing out Justin for giving away information, he switches from standing facing Justin squarely and standing with one shoulder forward. He also switches from gesturing with his right hand to his left. (01:05:55)
Continuity mistake: When Richard hugs Justin as they are talking about evidence Justin is giving away to the police, Justin's head moves from on Richard's shoulder to buried in his chest and back. (01:06:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Richard confronts Cassie in her car outside the restaurant, she pushes him away from her window and gets out of the car. When she says, "there was a killer at your school...", we see Richard with his arms down by his side. In the next shot a split-second later, his right arm is up against the car, behind Cassie's head. We didn't see him motion in towards the car or hear the leather of his jacket moving, had he raised his arm. (01:08:50)
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Richard rings a lawyer friend, he is out in the street using a public phone, when a guy on a bike goes by. The scene then cuts to the man in the office and back to Richard and the same guy goes by again. (01:34:50)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Justin arrives home from school, Richard is on his bed wearing a black hooded top and long coat. The camera angle cuts to beside the bed, and Richard is only wearing the black hoodie (it goes just to his waist), then as he stands up he is wearing the long coat again.
Continuity mistake: Near the end, in the house on the bluff, when Richard hands the pistol to Justin, we see him taking it with his left hand. The next shot, from a different angle, shows Justin taking it with his right hand.
Continuity mistake: In the police chief's office, the chief asks, "Do you know who this kid's father is? Lawrence Haywood. he built the mall..." Later at the restaurant Cassie mentions Richard and the maitre'd enquires, "MILES Haywood's kid?"
Answer: It's like a paint-by-numbers, where a picture is outlined on a board, and each little piece of it has a number corresponding to a different color of paint. You paint in the spaces based on what the numbers tell you. Murder by numbers refers to the boys following all the "rules" about how to create the perfect murder: choosing a victim at random, etc. They're murdering based on what they've been told is the right way to do it.
Krista