Continuity mistake: When Peter first leaves his house near the beginning of the movie, he throws his empty bottle at a lawn chair, and it bounces off onto the ground. In the next shot, when he drives away, you can see nothing on the ground and what looks like the bottle now lying on the chair. (00:03:20)
Continuity mistake: When Martha Johnstone falls on Justin during the cheerleading tryouts, her skirt falls up and is laying on her back; they show this in a front view; but when they switch to a side view, her skirt is back down covering her bottom. (00:06:35)
Continuity mistake: When White is sitting down with Kate at her house, he shows her the red flower he picked from her garden. The first time, the flower looks crumpled and a bit damaged, from the other angle it is perfectly fine. (00:41:00)
Continuity mistake: When Peter opens the door to his file closet to show Kate his paper work, the door on the left changes from being open wide to just slightly open throughout the scene. (00:09:40 - 00:09:43)
Continuity mistake: When Justin is trying to rally all the boys behind saving Average Joe's, he throws a blue icepack on the couch when he stands up. When it focuses back on Gordon, the icepack is gone. When they show Gordon again, the icepack is back. (00:13:15 - 00:13:50)
Continuity mistake: After White knocks the food onto the Average Joe's players in the bar, Owen is holding a martini glass in his left hand. The following shot, the martini glass has disappeared. (00:32:35)
Continuity mistake: When Gordon is talking to Peter about the OSQ magazine about midget tossing, right before Gordon hands him the magazine, Peter has an orange juice carton in his hand. In the next shot you see him holding the magazine with both hands empty, with not enough time to get rid of the orange juice. (00:04:40)
Continuity mistake: In the final showdown after Peter knocks White down, his team rushes on to congratulate him. At first the court is clear behind Peter, but when the team rushes on there are a lot of balls behind him. In the same scene, there is a large, black box with skulls and crossed bones on it that isn't seen in the wide shot. (01:19:30)
Continuity mistake: When the waitress gets pushed into the table at the Dirty Sanchez, the food splatters everywhere, but none of it gets on Owen; he is completely clean. Then, they have a shot of him directly afterward, and he is completely covered in food. (00:32:35)
Continuity mistake: In the first shot at the car wash, there is a white car parked beyond the lifted truck, in the background. In the very next shot that car is gone. The dog also goes from lying down to instantly sitting up, between the two shots. (00:14:30)
Continuity mistake: When Peter and White are in sudden death, White gets hit with the ball and slides backwards. In the first shot he is parallel with the words and the next shot he is perpendicular. (01:22:20)
Continuity mistake: When White pushes the waitress into the table at the Dirty Sanchez, she takes the tray with her as she stands up and walks away. In the next shot, Gordon moves the tray off the table. (00:33:55)
Continuity mistake: When Peter La Fleur is presented with a contract to sign his gym over and Me'Shell opens the briefcase to "Show" the $100,000.00 the money appears in the middle of the briefcase, however, when the camera angle is changed so you see the back of White's head you cannot see a trace of the money in the briefcase. (00:59:50)
Continuity mistake: When the chest of winnings is opened at the end, the sign reading "Deus Ex Machine" is visible on the inside of the lid. A few shots later, that large sign is gone. (Don't confuse it with a second sign at the front of the chest, under the lock, that is always there.) (01:24:45 - 01:26:25)
Chosen answer: "Deus Ex Machina" means "God out of the machine." It's from Greek plays, wherein a god would appear at the end of the story to solve a problem. Nowadays it basically means that a totally new plot element appears out of nowhere and solves everything. It's an easy (and cheap) way out.