Serendipity

Serendipity (2001)

22 mistakes

(6 votes)

Factual error: Jonathan is lying in the middle of the skating rink when the second cashmere glove falls upon him. Looking around, he notices Sarah at the edge of the rink. Despite Sarah being a female and the fact that it is snowing, even Nolan Ryan would have a difficult time throwing something as light as cashmere that distance. (01:22:05)

Continuity mistake: The phone number Sara writes on Jonathan's back is different than the one she writes in the book. (00:11:50 - 01:04:50)

Serendipity mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the opening shot, as the camera moves down the building, in the windows you can clearly see the cameraman & camera on the hoist/crane. (00:01:00)

Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the movie, Sara (Kate Beckinsale) runs to the Waldorf-Astoria to stop Jonathon's (John Cusack) wedding. The first time she turns to leave the room where the wedding was to be held, she has just a few drops of sweat showing through her blouse. The second time she turns to leave the room, her back is drenched in sweat. (01:15:15)

Other mistake: In the opening scene, as the camera pans down on the ladies folding sweaters in Bloomingdales, the reflection in the window shows people across the street dressed in summer clothes. (00:01:25)

Continuity mistake: When Sara and her best friend are celebrating her birthday, a little cake is brought in and placed before them. The cake originally has one candle on it. In the next shot the candle disappears and never comes back. (00:55:20)

Other mistake: Why, when they are on the ice rink, and it is snowing heavily, does very little snow actually land on them, at least to start with?

The Doctor

Factual error: John Cusack enters a cab and asks to go to the New York Times offices on 42nd street. The Times is on 43rd Street. (00:28:00)

Continuity mistake: Originally, the director was going to have the first meeting between Jon and Sara take place 10 years before they finally meet again, but later changed the difference to 7 years. When there is the close-up of Sara's Bloomingdale's receipt, the date printed is 1990, but for a 7 year difference, it should be 1993.

Steph_Jared

Visible crew/equipment: In the second before last scene (when John and Kate finally met and are hugging each other in the center of the ice rink), the camera moves around them in a loop and at one point in the background, we can see the snow being shot out of the snow-making machine located just outside the rink. (01:24:05)

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of their "interaction" together, Jonathan leaves his scarf at the restaurant. When they both go back, Sara puts the scarf on him and between shots it switches positions. (00:08:20)

Plot hole: In the cafe, Sara offers Jonathan a check for the gloves. A check would obviously have her name, address (and usually) a phone number, making her easy to find again. (00:04:48)

Cbcgator

Continuity mistake: When Eve is getting into the taxi cab and says farewell to Sara, as the taxi pulls away, you can see in the background three people exiting the revolving doors of the Waldorf Hotel. The very next shot is a medium closeup of Sara watching the cab drive off, and in the background those very same three people once again exit the revolving doors of the Waldorf Hotel.

Continuity mistake: When Sara is showing Eve the airplane tickets to New York, in one shot Eve grabs one of the tickets and Sara holds on to the other. In the next shot, Eve has both of the tickets. And in the third shot, they each have one again. (00:42:05)

Continuity mistake: You see the same shot of New York from above twice, once at the beginning of the film and once near the end. You can tell it is the same shot because of the long truck parked diagonally across the street.

Continuity mistake: This mistake appears when a truck rolls by Sara and Jonathan just as Sara is handing her phone number to him. The camera is close on Sara and Jonathan, but when the shot goes wide, you can see Jonathan's feet turn completely around AS the truck is rolling by, and then the next jump cut shows him turning around AFTER the truck rolls by.

Continuity mistake: When John Cusack is trying to persuade Eugene Levy to give him Sara's details, the camera angle is cutting from one to the other. In one sequence, when we see John Cusack, Eugene Levy is clearly smiling (reverse angle), but from the front shot he's looking very serious. (00:37:25)

Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie where Jonathan is laying down on the skating rink with all the people skating around him, it starts to snow, and you can see several small puddles all over the rink. The shot flashes to show him still lying in the exact same spot with no skaters anywhere (to signify a time lapse), but all of the puddles look exactly the same, haven't changed a bit. If people were still skating they probably would have enlarged, and if they'd stopped they should have refrozen. (01:21:45)

princesskelli

Factual error: In the final flight scene, where Sara prepares to board a plane to fly back to San Fran from NY, we see the outside of a Boeing 747. On the inside, we see a DC-9 interior (a 747 would usually have a 3-4-3 seating configuration instead of the 2-3 configuration of a DC-9). (00:11:40)

Bloomingdale's Salesman: So... you write for the obituary?
Dean: Absolutely.
Bloomingdale's Salesman: Hmm. You must be very proud.
Dean: Uh-huh. I'm the one with the last word.
Bloomingdale's Salesman: Not tonight.
Dean: Yes, I am.
Bloomingdale's Salesman: Don't think so.
Dean: Absolutely.
Bloomingdale's Salesman: Fat chance.
Dean: Still talking.
Bloomingdale's Salesman: Last line.

More quotes from Serendipity

Question: At the end, are John and Sara married? She's wearing a ring, but he is not. Perhaps they're just engaged?

Answer: They are engaged and celebrating the day they met each other.

More questions & answers from Serendipity

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.