Continuity mistake: When Bonnie Hunt announces that Mark has run away, she has no paper in her hand. It cuts to Steve Martin, then back to Bonnie who now has Mark's note against her chest. (01:17:05)
Continuity mistake: When Tom and the family are getting ready for Oprah to come round, Tom is on the phone to Kate and he runs over to a vase of yellow flowers and nearly knocks them to the ground. Between shots the way he touchs the flowers changes. (01:08:50)
Audio problem: When Dylan is over at the Baker's new house, Jake says "You're gonna wanna stop now dude" but when he says this, the movement of his mouth isn't matching the words he's saying. (00:23:40)
Continuity mistake: When Tom picks the kids up from school, Mark hands his dad a picture. In a closeup Mark is holding the piece of paper at the top, yet in the wideshot he is holding it at the side. (00:54:30)
Continuity mistake: When Tom is in an office at the Stallions, Charlie comes in and he says "Dad we need to talk" and then he picks up a rugby ball with one hand. In the following closeup though he suddenly is holding it with both hands. (00:53:35)
Continuity mistake: When Nora and Hank are standing by the bainster, when the whole family is fighting, in one shot Nora's arms are down by her side, but in the next shot, her hand is up by her chest. (01:15:35)
Continuity mistake: When the Baker kids are taking revenge on the bullies that stole Mark's glasses, they knock the guy's drink to the ground, but a couple shots later it's gone.
Continuity mistake: As Hank falls into the paddling pool he clearly drops the apple he was holding into the pool, yet in the following closeup he has the apple in his right hand. (00:34:15)
Continuity mistake: When Nora is on the phone to the Bakers, trying to find a way not to visit them, she talks to Hank whilst covering the phone mouthpiece, and on the side are three blue candleholders, yet in some shots one of the candleholders disappears. (00:30:30)
Continuity mistake: When Steve Martin is talking to Bonnie Hunt about being gone for three days, watch the picture on the table. It moves closer to the edge of the table in the subsequent shot. In the first shot it is not covering the ring on the edge of the table, in the next shot it is. (00:43:10)
Continuity mistake: When Beans the frog has been caught, Tom gives Mark the net with the frog in and then Mark smashes all of the glass/ornaments on the shelf, by swinging the handle of the net into them. Look at the mess of glass/ornaments on the side, just after Mark smashes them. When we see the shelf again, the position of the smashed glass/ornaments on the side had changed greatly, and things have appeared/disappeared. (00:09:45)
Continuity mistake: When Hank is tripped by the hose, his hair goes from dry to suddenly wet just before he hits the water. (00:35:40)
Other mistake: At the end of the movie, Steve Martin is walking through the field where, just minutes before, he coached his last game (he looks at the scoreboard and his wife tells their children that he went alone to the game). Well, that seems a very immaculate football field for one that just had a college game played on it. (01:28:55)
Continuity mistake: When Nora phones the Bakers, and she is on speakerphone, in the background you can see some various blue and green glass ornaments on the red wall-side, in the background of Hank playing his video game. These ornaments have moved along in the closeup of Hank frantically tapping his controller. (00:16:00)
Continuity mistake: As Tom is about to go to work, Kate hands him a printout of Nora's email. Tom takes the paper and holds it at the bottom middle part. In the following closeup though, Tom is holding the left corner of the paper. When it cuts he is holding the bottom middle again. (00:11:20)
Continuity mistake: When Hank is sitting on the couch, waiting for his clothes to dry, Nora comes in with lemonade. Tom and Kate start talking to Hank about his acting career and we see that Nora is holding her lemonade glass, but in the very next shot, the glass is on the table in front of her. (00:35:30)
Audio problem: When Sarah Baker says "I would feel happier and stronger if we vote on it", he lips move way too quickly for the words to catch up.
Continuity mistake: When Tom goes into Shake's office to resign as coach, the position of the football in the display case behind Shake, goes from being horizontal to tilted to horizontal again, between shots. (01:24:05)
Continuity mistake: When the family runs out of the house to go and look for Mark, Jake is riding his skateboard and rides down the path well ahead of everyone else. In the next shot, several family members run out the gate ahead of Jake, who should have been first out the gate. (01:17:30)
Other mistake: When Kim and Jessica run into the kitchen at the start of the breakfast scene, Jessica looks up at the camera. (00:04:45)
Answer: Because he needed a way to coach the team while also watching his kids.