Continuity mistake: In the scene where Monique is introduced to Ricky at in the movie you see Ricky remove the red cap of his nasal spray and drops it as he goes to spray it in his nose. When the Camera zooms in on the next shot of him snorting nasal spray you can see him drop the red cap again. (00:08:40)
Continuity mistake: For dinner one night, Lane's mom serves the family some strange green goop on a plate. In one shot, the goop lies flat on Lane's plate. In the next, it has become large and structured, like a brain (in order to move off the plate). (00:18:05)
Continuity mistake: When the paperboy comes around to collect his $2.00 plus tip, Lane keeps the door only open a crack. But when it switches to shots of the paperboy not only is the door wide open but the color has changed from blue to white. (00:22:00)
Continuity mistake: When Lane Meyer scratches the chalk and makes the squealing sound, the camera shows the class wincing in pain with their hair standing on end. There is a guy sitting in Beth's seat. (00:24:35 - 00:25:20)
Continuity mistake: In the classroom scene, Lane is called to the board to demonstrate a math problem. When he draws the first line, it screeches, and cuts to the class hollering with their hair on end. When it cuts back to Lane, the line is half the original length. (00:25:20)
Continuity mistake: When Lane is about to kill himself with carbon monoxide fumes from the car in the garage, he passes out and backs up out the garage door..if you look close you can see a conscious stunt man sitting up as the car goes backwards. (00:39:35)
Continuity mistake: Lane goes to his first day of work at "pig burger". A closeup is shown of the owner's mouth as he snarls "Myers...". There's about 1/4 inch of facial hair all over his face. When they cut from the closeup and show the rest of his body you can see that he's fairly well shaven, only some 5 o'clock shadow. (00:53:15)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie when the French girl and Lane are at Dodgers Stadium you can clearly see bike tracks in the dirt and grass where the paperboy had ridden in previous takes. (01:32:45)
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the film, during the chase scene between the newspaper boy and Lane, you can see the skis of the camera guy.
Continuity mistake: In the last skiing scene where Lane is being chased by the paperboy, when the camera is on Lane he has the sleeves to his vest on. The camera then goes to someone else and when it comes back to Lane, there are no sleeves on the vest, then they are back on again later.
Continuity mistake: During the various ski scenes, the weather changes frequently between shots - in some shots, the sky is clear and harsh shadows are cast. In other shots, it is heavily overcast and shadows are barely visible.
Continuity mistake: In the final skiing scene, the skiers have different skis on from shot to shot. I have counted a total of four pairs of skis on Lane alone. Obviously that is not John Cusack doing the skiing either.
Continuity mistake: In the dining room scene when they are having dinner with Monique, the liquor is red. When Ricke's mom pours it, it's changed to clear.
Continuity mistake: When the kid shows up asking for 2 dollars he has a hat on. A second later miraculously he whips out a comb and starts combing his hair.
Answer: It was an idiotic diet fad in the mid to late eighties.