Goofs for
Big Fish (2003) More at IMDb Pro »

• Revealing mistakes: When Edward leaves Spectre, there are fresh tire tracks in the grass, probably from the crane being used to film the scene.
  
  
• Continuity: When the senior Ed Bloom and his wife are both in the bathtub together, there are separate shots of each of them at their respective ends of the tub. The water levels are noticeably different.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Edward and Norther Winslow escape from the bank, Edward turns to look at the clerk in apology and leaves, jumping over a customer lying on the floor. You can see his mark - a black dot - on the floor where he was standing.
  
  

• Continuity: When Edward is picked up by the scary tree in the woods, the key to the city falls to the ground. In a close-up, the key is still around his neck. Returning to the long shot, the key is again on the ground.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Amos tells Ed that Sandra is in her last semester at Auburn. Auburn was on the quarter system until 2000, when they switched to semesters.
  
  
• Continuity: When Sandra joins Edward in the bathtub, they are sitting at opposite ends of the tub. When Edward holds his hand out to Sandra, she puts both of her hands into the water to move toward him. But in the next shot, both of her hands are on the rim of the tub as she moves toward him.
  
  
• Continuity: When Edward surprises the enemy soldiers and the enemies are preparing for the fight and are finished showing off their fancy moves, they are standing back to back (from Edward's point of view). In the view from behind the enemies and looking at Edward, they are about 2 feet apart, then they are back to back again in the next shot.
  
  
• Continuity: When old Edward is drinking the healthy can of something, he opens it, then in the next shot it hasn't been opened, then in the next shot it is open and he drinks from it.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: In the freeze frame scene at the circus, the woman to Ed's right as he reaches the floor level blinks.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the montage of Ed Bloom's heroics there is a shot of him making a game-winning basket. There is a three-point line painted on the court. There was no three-point shot in high school basketball until the 1980s.
  
  
• Continuity: When Edward is in Spectre having lunch together with Norther Winslow and the mayor, Norther is holding his cup with both hands. When the camera goes down under the table to shoot Jenny while she steals Edward's shoes, Norther has his own hand close to his knee. In the very next shot Norther Winslow is holding his cup with both hands again.
  
  
• Continuity: After Jenny has thrown Edwards's shoes up on the wire Norther, Mildred and the mayor invite Edward to follow them by putting their hands on his shoulders. Mildred's hand is on Edward's back in the first shot, on his shoulder in the second one and again on his back in the following.
  
  
• Continuity: When Sandra is standing over Ed in the bathtub, before she jumps in and joins him, her dress is already soaking wet.
  
  
• Continuity: When the mayor is giving Young Edward Bloom the key to the city, watch the girl in the band with the clarinet. From the camera angle when the mayor finishes his speech, she has her clarinet in her mouth. The angle changes yet we can still see her, clarinet out of her mouth, then the angle changes back and the clarinet is back in her mouth.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene when Edward first sees Sandra, and time stops, there is a woman swinging hula hoops. At first, she holds the hula hoop with her hand at the top, but when Edward goes through the hula hoop to get to Sandra, she is holding it from the side.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Edward Bloom infiltrates the North Korean concert, there are multiple languages being spoken (not just Korean). These languages include Mandarin and Cantonese.
  
  
• Anachronisms: At the bank robbery, there is an FDIC sign at the tellers window. At that time, a savings bank would have been a member of the FSLIC, which was ultimately absorbed by the FDIC.
  
  

• Crew or equipment visible: SPOILER: When Ed Bloom is left to die and become the fish in the river at the end of the movie, you can see the cables under the water beneath the son's right hand.
  
  
• Factual errors: SPOILER: Before Will leaves Jenny's house, Jenny signs a quitclaim deed and hands it to Will. On it we see a notary seal. A notary would not have placed a seal until after it was signed in the notary's presence. The document also states that the property is being conveyed for zero dollars of consideration. Real estate interests cannot pass without "consideration" and a one dollar amount is usually included to meet this requirement. The document would be regarded as void without any money being exchanged.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: SPOILER: When Ed is dying in the hospital, his son watches him in anguish and there is only one light reflected in each of Will's and Ed's eyes. When Ed's eyes become fixed, the light in his eyes brightens, and a second light can be seen reflecting in the corner of his eyes. When the camera pans back to Will, two spots of light are now reflected in his eyes showing the addition of a second light off camera.
  
  
• Continuity: SPOILER: When Will takes the Deed and puts it between the Handi-matic's fingers, it can be read "Deed of Trust". When Eddie takes the deed Jenny has just signed, we read "Quitclaim Deed".
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: SPOILER: When Ed Bloom (Young) comes to buy Jenny's house, he enters to see her playing piano, but the movement of her hands does not match the notes we hear.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: SPOILER: Where the crowd gathers at the end of Edward's funeral, either Ping or Jing is seen talking in a small crowd, clearly separated from the other. As the camera pans to another crowd gathered in the foreground, the other Siamese twin is seen simultaneously. The twins were conjoined in Edward's tall tale, but when seen in real life they are ordinary identical twins. This scene was clearly meant to reveal this fact.
  
  

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