Revealing mistake: When Patrick orders Christie to take off the robe, you can see the actress is wearing panties. She comes directly from the bathroom where she was bathing, and Bateman only told her to put on the robe. For her on the bed, there's just a little babydoll to put on, and Patrick directly references her showing her hole to the other hooker. So, panties really don't seem to have been part of the equation at any point. (00:42:45)
Continuity mistake: When Patrick fixes Christie's pose, touching her jaw while he muses about "In Too Deep", the scarf around her neck drapes behind her shoulder, but in the wider angle, it's in front of her shoulder. (00:43:20)
Continuity mistake: In the toxic masculinity Harvard Club scene following the encounter with the two sex workers, the extras' positions don't align between cuts. Most notably, a blonde woman exits the frame to the left just as the dudebros high-five, but in the next shot, she has barely moved, while a waiter seen exiting to the right (during the Ed Gein joke) is instantly repositioned behind Luis in the following cut. (00:46:30)
Character mistake: The scene where Patrick Bateman is having drinks with his colleagues when they were discussing women, Patrick quoted Ed Gein saying when he sees a woman on the street he thinks of taking her out, etc., and what her head would look like on a stick. But in fact, Ed Kemper said that not Ed Gein, Ed Gein killed people because of his mother. (00:47:15)
Continuity mistake: When Luis shows his new business card, he holds it in close-up in a different position, much more tightly close to the thumb. (00:47:40)
Factual error: Before the second meeting with Donald Kimball begins, William Defoe can be overheard talking with the secretary, and they mention "Monday, the 20th." As we learn just a few seconds later, the day of Allen's 'disappearance' was December the 20th. However, that's not consistent with the year the movie is set in. Not even close. December the 20th hadn't been on a Monday since 1982 and wouldn't be until 1993. (00:49:55)
Continuity mistake: When Patrick rails Courtney, he grunts after he reaches his climax. Her head is pushed fairly noticeably into the pillows. Next shot, and while neither of them supposedly changed position, the pillows behind her have already been neatly arranged back. (00:52:05)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene after Patrick Bateman's second encounter with the detective in his office, we see Bateman having sex at Courtney's apartment. After he rolls off her, Bateman approaches the large, stand-up mirror in the bedroom. In the upper right hand corner of the mirror, a boom microphone can clearly be seen moving around to pick up Christian Bale's lines. The next time we get the same long shot, the microphone is gone. (00:52:45)
Continuity mistake: When Patrick tells Courtney that she looks "Marvelous" to deflect having a sincere conversation with her, the blue sweater she is half-wearing disappears from her shoulders/upper arms, reappears, and disappears again. (00:53:00)
Factual error: At the club where we see Patrick do coke with his friend, the tunes played are the only single from M|A|R|R|S, "Pump Up the Volume" (before the coke) and "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" by Information Society. The former is a late August 1987 release, the latter released at the end of April in 1988, so outside of the time frame of a movie set in 1987. (00:53:50)
Other mistake: In the nightclub scene where Patrick and Bryce do coke in the bathroom, pay attention to how they are dressed. When the scene is over and they are talking to the three girls, they are actually wearing different clothes... which are the same clothes they were wearing at the very beginning of the movie. This mistake was admitted by the director Mary Harron in her DVD commentary. She says that the editor, Andrew Marcus, suggested moving the snorting scene later in the movie to a different nightclub to avoid opening the movie with such a strong image, and when Harron objected, "I can't, they were wearing different clothes," Marcus replied, "Nobody will notice." Well... (00:54:30)
Continuity mistake: Patrick just did cocaine in the bathroom of a club. He gets back to his friend and three women. One of the women, Karen, took the Gorbachev joke seriously, and his friend says, "He's at Tunnel." Karen's position changes completely between shots. (00:56:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Patrick is in his office working on a crossword puzzle before talking to Jean, he is writing with his right hand. When the shot changes to the reflection of Patrick's glasses, the reflection shown is as if he is using his left hand. The reflection isn't a mirror image as it should be. (00:57:15)
Continuity mistake: When Patrick asks Jean out, he puts the crossword puzzle roughly on top of a book, off-centre at an angle. When the camera shows us the whole couch again, the paper is now parallel to the book and the phone, also on the couch, has moved slightly. Patrick, during this time, is off-screen a couple of times, but he's not supposed to move anything with his right arm; he is holding a pen and gesticulating towards the girl. (00:57:45 - 00:58:15)
Revealing mistake: When Patrick opens his fridge to offer Jean some sorbet, you can see the decapitated head of a woman in the fridge. If you pay close attention, you can see the head is moving a little. (00:59:36)
Suggested correction: It's a prop head resting on a freezer shelf. It could simply be that opening the freezer door causes the head to sway a little, similar to if you had an egg, lemon, or something else that didn't have a flat bottom resting on a shelf inside a fridge.
No, the way it was filmed was with the actual actress putting her head up through a hole in shelf. It's her head moving.
Factual error: When Bateman is in his apartment with his secretary, he points a large tool at the back of her head, unbeknownst to her. That is an air powered nailgun for installing plywood. The only way that one could be used is with an airhose and a compressor. The fitting for the airhose that sticks out of the bottom has been removed because it usually would point straight down and stick out about 2 inches. (01:02:45)
Continuity mistake: The limo with Patrick in the back is following Christie. Patrick lures her with a bit of whistling and the usual wad of bills as bait. When she stops, her arms are folded, but in the POV from inside the limo, her arms are straight. (01:08:40)
Character mistake: Patrick gets wrong the fact that Whitney Houston's eponymous debut album had 4 n.1 singles. It had 'just' 3 ("Saving All My Love for You," "How Will I Know," and "Greatest Love of All"). (01:12:35)
Factual error: The chainsaw Bateman uses to kill the prostitute fleeing the apartment is a Husqvarna 136 model, which came out in 1993. The movie is set in 1987. (01:15:40)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the conversation where Bateman is dumping his girlfriend, she spots a friend in the crowd of the restaurant and waves at her. Notice that in the long shot ("Why, what's wrong?") a server with an orange shirt moves away from a nearby table. In the next shot, he's already way past Evelyn's friend and the bar, but a couple of shots later he is in front of her. (01:16:35)
