Character mistake: Debbie is doing an "All 80s weekend" on her radio show, and the film's soundtrack is based on exactly the same idea. Debbie plays 'Rudie Can't Fail' by The Clash. This is from the London Calling album, which was released right at the end on 1979 in most countries. The song was never released as a single in any year, so it's definitely a 70s song. What's interesting abut this mistake is that the soundtrack was selected by former Clash lead singer Joe Strummer.
Character mistake: In the scene where Billy is called to the crime scene of Andrews' murder, Andrews' body is shown with a wound on his chest. Later in the movie though, Billy is questioning Todd Lancaster. Todd Lancaster says that he saw Andrews get shot in the head. (00:52:00 - 01:25:00)
Character mistake: When Detective Welles is searching for Naomi in the Police Computer System he types "Naomi, Cozier" which is backwards - he should have searched "Cozier, Naomi" or skipped the comma entirely. (00:58:20)
Character mistake: Buffalo Bill's revolver is a double action, meaning did not need to cock his gun before firing it (you only need to do so with single-action revolvers. Cocking a double-action just makes the next trigger pull easier.) He could've just shot Starling. His stupidity got him killed.
Character mistake: During the fight in the double deuce where Wesley brings Jimmy in to take all the bouncers on, Jimmy takes on Wade, and Dalton comes to his rescue. Afterwards Wade says to Dalton 'same town new story', when in fact the line should have been, 'new town same story'.
Suggested correction: Wade said it that way on purpose. He was alluding to the idea that there is something different about this town's situation, compared with all the other towns where it was the same old situation.
Character mistake: Sandra Bullock's German is very good, but not perfect. She says about her husband, "Gestern hat er seine Schuhe in den Gefrierschrank gestellt," ("Yesterday, he put his shoes in the freezer"). Immediately afterwards, she says "seine Schuhe ins Gefrierschrank," ("He put his shoes in the freezer"). The word Gefrierschrank (freezer) in German is masculine and can never be preceded by the accusative case contraction "ins", the contraction for "in das." She just changed the gender of the word Gefrierschrank (freezer) from masculine in the first sentence (correct) to neuter in the second sentence (incorrect). (01:40:05)
Character mistake: When Cutter is talking with Chief Biggs for the first time, right after the negotiations for fuel, Cutter says he is the former head of security for the airline. Since he has just been hired for that role (after being an independent security consultant), he should have called himself the future head of security, or new, or something of that nature. Former would indicate he has resigned from the position.
Character mistake: At the football players funeral, the guy on the left is still breathing, despite being dead.
Character mistake: When Dolph is looking at the logo for the Red Dragon brewery, he says, "That arrogant scumbag mother fucker. He put the yakuza iron claw right on the logo." But, the iron claw is not the logo of the yakuza. It's the logo of the specific syndicate run by some members of the yakuza, as Dolph stated after ripping open the shirt of that guy in the interrogation room. So, he just wrongly stated what the logo really belonged to.
Character mistake: In jail when they're all sitting down to eat, Paulie says "c'mon boys let's eat, Freddie, Vinnie let's go" The problem is the other guy's name is Johnny Dio, not Freddie.
Character mistake: At the party, Fred is supposed to make a bbq, feeding about 50 people. But once he's got the fire going, he puts two lonely pieces of hamburger meat on top, to cook - only two.
Character mistake: When Murphy shoots down an F-16, the guy says "we just lost a M-16."
Character mistake: When Parker awakes in the hospital bed, you can hear the female news anchor say that the thieves got away in a "silver [Chevrolet] Suburban" when actually the Suburban was gold. (00:21:00)
Character mistake: Detective Sing asks Dr Gordon to listen to Amanda's testimony. Any detective would know its not a testimony, its a statement. Testimonies are done in court, not a police station. (00:23:00)
Character mistake: Jack accuses Marion of being a mug punter because she bets on the lottery, despite the odds of winning of "14.5 million to 1." The odds of winning the lottery are in fact 13,992,000 to 1 - not much better, but at least a precise figure.
Character mistake: At the meeting of the MVD and FBI where they are discussing Terek's hiding place, she mentions that he's in the town of Porvoo and that it is 60 kilometers west Helsinki. Porvoo is actually 50 kilometers northeast of Helsinki. (00:12:45)
Character mistake: Toward the end of the film, Detective Davis orders Captain McKenna to put his badge on the table. New York City police always refer to their "shields", not badges.
Character mistake: Detective Spitzer went into Harper's dark/unlit house, saw his partner Greg on the floor, and then saw Alec standing in the kitchen. Without identifying himself, telling Alec to drop his weapon (pistol pointed toward the floor), or bothering to determine what happened, Detective Spitzky shoots Alec. (01:27:08)
Character mistake: In the bathroom scene with the fat man tied up, Kevin answers his phone upside down.
Character mistake: Jimmy is at work, feeling sick in the toilet. Two other employees are talking at the sinks. The man on the left is called Phil by his colleague at the beginning of the scene, but at the end of the scene, he calls him Simon.