Continuity mistake: At the least swim meet, Chaz is shown diving before Jason Melon. Howver, after Jason dives, it then shows Chaz "up next" - and his hair is completely dry.
Continuity mistake: The college, Great Lakes University, is presumably pretty far north and the movie takes place in January. All of the characters are dressed appropriately in winter coats, except for in the diving scenes, where it's warm, sunny, and perfect for getting a tan.
Other mistake: After his wife has a party at their house, Thorton Melon (Dangerfield) decides to have a swim in his pool. The camera shows Melon as he is about to dive into the pool from the edge. The camera cuts away and a much "thinner" Melon is seen doing a flip into the water. Watch carefully as the "thinner" man makes his dive. You can clearly see his hairpiece fly off the top of his head.
Revealing mistake: When Thornton and Lou are making the Bruce Springsteen sign, the student at the table is supposed to be writing on a poster but you can see that the marker is not touching the paper.
Continuity mistake: When Thornton invites the two girls to sit down and have some beer, the girl with the long hair sits in the middle of the booth but when the shot changes, she is now much closer to Lou.
Visible crew/equipment: When Philip and Diane are walking to the car discussing their relationship, you can see the boom mic reflected off the black car next to Philip's car.
Other mistake: Rodney Dangerfield dives into the pool to show his son a dive. When he climbs out, he's bone dry!
Continuity mistake: When the snooty English economics professor first spots Thornton and his son in his class, we can see two empty seats directly in front of them. However, when the camera moves to the back of the room, the two chairs are filled. This happens a couple of times during the scene as the camera angle changes.
Continuity mistake: During the fight scene in the bar, after the pep-rally, Lou (Burt Young) is seen pressing a guy over his head. The guy is wearing a denim vest, with a red sweater on underneath. After Lou throws the guy's head into the jukebox, the guy who is sticking out of the jukebox is wearing a full denim jacket. The red sweater and vest disappear.
Continuity mistake: When Jason and Derek first go into their dorm room and Thornton and Lou are in the room, they are roommates in one room, but in the later scene, Jason and Derek are opening doors next to each other, which would suggest that they each now have their own rooms.
Suggested correction: At that point they could have had individual rooms since after Thornton comes to the school he could have arranged for each to have their own rooms. After all, he is Thornton.
