Best mystery movie character mistakes of all time

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To Catch a Thief picture

Character mistake: Early in the movie Cary Grant is on the beach and is told he has a phone call. While conversing with Bertani, Cary Grant has the handset backwards - he is speaking into the earpiece and listening to the mouthpiece where the chord is attached.

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Scream 3 picture

Character mistake: When Jenny McCarthy goes to the office to meet the director. She's calling out his name to see if he's there & calls " Roman.......Ronin.......Roman". (00:23:15)

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Moon picture

Character mistake: The word "satellite" on the uplink screen at which Sam Rockwell spends a lot of time staring, is incorrectly spelled "sattelite". The correct spelling is used a little further down on the same display.

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The Amityville Horror picture

Character mistake: When Jackie the babysitter is stuck in the closet, she explains to George and Kathy that the door was locked. George says Amy there's no lock on this door. Her real name is Amy and her film name is Jackie.

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Dark City picture

Character mistake: When Murdoch finds the correct page in the phonebook, it is not sorted correctly. e.g. "Harber G" should be before "Harber TJ" and "Harrison Dale" should be before "Harrison E" (00:44:18)

jle

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The Game picture

Character mistake: When Nicolas returns from Mexico and goes to the gate of his house, he sees a sign that says his house is being sold at public auction. The word "foreclosure" is spelled incorrectly. It is spelled "forclosure."

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Interstellar picture

Character mistake: Shortly before the drone chase scene Cooper tells Murph to put the truck in second gear. She pushes the gear lever forward, however on the 6-speed manual in the Ram 3500 second gear is in the back row.

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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country picture

Character mistake: There's no apparent reason for Spock's conviction that the gravity boots are a damning piece of evidence that will reveal the assassins, especially considering how useless they prove to be after being found planted in an innocent man's locker.

TonyPH

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Scream picture

Character mistake: Sid deduces that Billy could be the killer because he could have used his phone call from jail to make the threatening call. However, the deduction has to be incorrect, since if it was really Billy, he could have never used the voice-changing device.

Sammo

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This will sound pedantic (hey, it's MovieMistakes.com, we're entitled), but I don't think this is what is meant by a character mistake. Sidney isn't presenting an erroneous fact that goes uncorrected, she's explaining an idea that had crossed her mind. Billy immediately gives a plausible response and by the end of the film it's evident who'd called her. The takeaway isn't that Billy could still be the killer but that Sidney can't help but suspect him despite their reconciliation.

TonyPH

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Rebecca picture

Character mistake: In the beginning of the film, in the foyer of the hotel, Mrs Van Hopper takes a sip of coffee and declares it "stone cold." Then she sees Max De Winter and offers him coffee, but all she asks the girl to get from a waiter is another cup, when what they need is another cup and a fresh pot of hot coffee.

kh1616

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Saw (2004)

Saw picture

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)

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A Shot in the Dark picture

Character mistake: When Clouseau and Ballon are playing billiards, and Clouseau accuses Ballon of murdering the chauffeur out of jealously, he accidentally refers to Ballon as "Inspector Ballon". (00:46:20)

Cubs Fan

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Where the Crawdads Sing picture

Character mistake: Lawyer Tom was in the bar when locals were speculating that Kya killed Chase. He told Kya that people in Barkley Cove call her "Marsh Girl" and "When you stand trial, you will be judged by a jury of your peers from Barkley Cove." In the courtroom, people were shouting "She's guilty" and "We all know she's guilty." The judge pounded his gavel and said, "We will now begin jury selection." Tom and/or the judge should have filed a "Motion for Change of Venue" to ensure a fair and unbiased trial. (00:10:23 - 00:29:44)

KeyZOid

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And Then There Were None picture

Character mistake: Blore accuses Lombard saying "What about those 21 poor natives in South Africa?" The record played during the first evening mentioned indeed 21 men, but that were natives of a tribe in East Africa. (00:14:20 - 01:10:10)

Sammo

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Ten Little Indians picture

Character mistake: When the record plays, after Vera emphatically fists her own mouth, Hugh Lombard is called out on the murder of "Jennifer Hayes." A couple scenes later Vera is in the kitchen and asks him "What about that girl?" as they share a glass of milk. Lombard then asks back "Carol Hayes?" Spoiler; It may not be a plot hole but a mistake made by the character, since he is not the real Lombard but rather someone else posing as him. (00:18:10 - 00:32:10)

Sammo

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It (1990)

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The Big Sleep picture

Character mistake: When Lauren is playing roulette, she has $14,000 worth of chips sitting on red - if she wins, she gets double, $28,000; and if she loses, she loses all of the $14,000 - but the croupier is troubled and says to Lauren that she hasn't got enough to cover the bet, which is ridiculous; all her $14,000 chips are sitting on red, what more does she need? Even the head croupier is called in, and, after much chatting, all the other players are asked to take their chips away as only Lauren is playing this round, which is ridiculous: All they have to lose is $28,000; that's nothing for them.

kh1616

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