Continuity mistake: When Daniel is upset about his wife, his friend, Karen, puts her arm on his shoulder as he starts to cry and you can see her arm whilst he is crying. Then the shot cuts away and his arm has grabbed her arm, but it's too quick for him to have moved it. (00:27:40)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the film in the airport, Colin returns with Harriet. They meet Tony there, and you can see Harriet's sister Carla come round the corridor. Then Harriet turns to introduce Carla, and you can see her blonde hair and arm come onto the screen. But in the next shot, it shows Carla walking towards them, much much further away from where she just was. (02:03:00)
Factual error: When the little boy Sam is running through Heathrow airport to say goodbye to Joanna, he is in terminal 1. Virgin Atlantic flights only depart Heathrow from terminal 3. (02:00:15)
Factual error: The place where Jamie is writing his novel is revealed to be Marseilles, France, when he flies back to propose. In the first part of their story, it might have been Portugal; his housekeeper spoke French, which is a common second language in that country; and Aurelia only spoke Portuguese. Yet in the entire second part, no-one speaks any French at all; only Portuguese and a few words of English. Sure enough there are many Portuguese families living in France; but they do not have their own linguistic enclave in Marseilles, and any generation growing up there would have learnt French as well. Either the language or the airport name are wrong.
Suggested correction: In the second part, only a few people are heard speaking Portuguese. They are mostly Aurelia's family or friends of the family. It's reasonable to assume that these few people spoke Portuguese.
But they would not speak only Portuguese and live there with a business and everything (even supposing that Aurelia had only joined them recently). And aren't there various neighbours, bystanders, and restaurant guests too? (Hence the closing remark in the original mistake entry about there not being an enclave there.) It still looks to me like the movie doesn't quite know whether they're in the South of France or in Portugal.
Continuity mistake: When Alan Rickman is trying to purchase the necklace, the extras behind him and Rowan Atkinson change from shot to shot. Most notably, when the shot is on Rowan there is a balding man with a woman, in most shots they face the left of the screen. Every now and then they suddenly switch to facing the right, or disappearing altogether, or there's a different person there. (01:18:15)
Character mistake: When Jamie is first speaking to Aurelia, he says "molto bueno", which the housekeeper woman tells him is Spanish. 'Molto' is actually Italian. (00:38:30)
Continuity mistake: When Karen spots David at the school before the performance, the positions of the striped scarf around her neck and the hanger in her hand differ in the side shots and the shots facing her, as well as her hand position in consecutive shots. (01:49:15)
Continuity mistake: After one of the interruptions (phone calls from her ill brother), Sarah and Karl sit on adjoining sides of her bed. In the wide shot of the two of them (closer to and facing Sarah), we can see Karl's hands are pressed together as if in prayer. However, in the following, slightly overhead shot, Karl is sitting with his hands in a different position.
Continuity mistake: As Sarah is leaving Harry's office, Karl walks in and Sarah backs up towards the coat rack behind her which stands right beside the cabinet. When Sarah walks out in the next shot, the coat rack is visible through the glass wall and it is now much closer to the doorway. (00:19:40)
Continuity mistake: Mark is eating breakfast by a table, watching TV, just before Juliet comes round for the wedding video. The table he is standing by has a TV remote on it. In one shot the remote is in the centre of the table, but in the next shot it's on the edge of the table, so Mark can walk past and pick it up with ease. (00:49:15)
Continuity mistake: When Billy Mack is appearing on Ant & Dec's TV show to promote his Christmas CD, which is competing against a CD by the group Blue, he uses a marker to draw on his competitors' picture. He draws a voice bubble and a derogatory comment. The shape and points of the voice bubble have changed when the camera cuts back to Billy after showing a shot of his manager shaking his head. (00:34:50)
Continuity mistake: When Mark opens the door, Juliet says "Banoffee Pie?" As she says this, Mark's right arm is down by his side, yet in the next shot, Mark's right arm is up by the door-frame. (00:49:35)
Continuity mistake: When Sam and his dad are sitting talking by the river, there is a shot from behind them and a girl walks past. It then cuts to a close up and the same girl walks past them again. (00:28:20)
Factual error: In the scene where Colin lands at the airport in Milwaukee, the sign outside the airport says "Milwaukee International." The actual name of the airport is General Mitchell International. (01:23:35)
Continuity mistake: When the Prime Minister has met Natalie, he walks off, and you can see his female assistant walking ahead of him. Then the Prime Minister turns and looks back at Natalie. When it cuts back to the Prime Minister again, the female assistant hasn't got very far and re-walks where she walked in the previous shot. (00:08:45)
Visible crew/equipment: When Sam is running through the airport to catch up with Joanna, there is a long shot of him running towards the gate before he jumps over the guard at the security gates. In this shot there's a very clear glimpse of the spring board he uses for the jump.
Factual error: When the President of the United States arrives at 10 Downing Street, his car has Washington State license plates, rather than Washington DC plates as it should.
Other mistake: Considering how long the Prime Minister's car is parked outside in front of the only road into the school, where there is to be the school Christmas concert, it's surprising how many cars are still trying to find a parking space. Also, you can see that suddenly no cars are driving when Natalie gets out of the Prime Minister's car.
Character mistake: When recording the soundtrack at the beginning of the movie, in the first take Billy Mack sings the first line of the verse but there is no vocal back up, but when he sings the second line, "I feel it in my toes," the backup singers repeat the second line. After messing up, in the next two tries, when Billy sings the first line, "I feel it in my fingers," the backup singers DO repeat this line this time. With each run through the three part harmony should sing the very same line each take, but they didn't.
Audio problem: When David the Prime Minister is trying to get Natalie's Octopus Brother out of the limo, Natalie laughs but we don't hear it. (01:47:29)
