Continuity mistake: The young Edward Bloom has blue eyes and the old Edward Bloom has brown eyes. (00:03:50 - 00:06:10)
Continuity mistake: When Edward is having his speech and says "To catch an uncatchable woman is to offer her a wedding ring." he is holding a glass. When Sandra approaches him, at first we see from behind Edward that he is holding his glass down. When it cuts to them about to hug, he has his glass by her shoulders and when it cuts again the glass is by her waist. (00:03:50)
Continuity mistake: When Will and Edward are outside the boat, we can see the distance between them change from the wide shot to the close-up of them. (00:04:05)
Continuity mistake: When Will is at his office he is sitting on the phone. At first we see him holding his hand by his chin. When it cuts he is suddenly playing with the phone chord. (00:04:50)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Josephine answers the phone and it is Will's mother speaking, the phone switches from Josephine's right hand to her left hand between the shots. (00:07:20)
Continuity mistake: When Will enters Edward's room and hands him a glass of water, Edward's grip on the glass change between the shots from under the glass to the middle of the glass. (00:14:55)
Continuity mistake: When the young Edward Bloom is in church and is growing at a quick pace, you see his buttons fly off and hit the woman in front of him in the back of the head. She then turns around and his buttons are back. (00:19:25)
Continuity mistake: When playing football, Edward vaults over the guy stepping on his back. In the far off shot looking at the pile there is someone in front of the guy he vaults off of. When it does a close up of him there's no one in front of him so he ends up eating grass. (00:20:25)
Continuity mistake: When Edward and Karl the giant are leaving Ed's hometown, Edward hands over his backpack to Karl as he's taking a different path. In one shot Edward is Ewan McGregor, but in the next (when he's shot from the back) he is obviously played by a child. It's probably to make Matthew McGrory look big without special effects. (00:28:20)
Continuity mistake: Around the table when Norther says "At night when the wind goes through the trees, you could swear there was a symphony playing just for you." Edward has a fork in his hand. At first there is nothing on the fork, but when young Jenny takes off with his shoes suddenly some pie has appeared on the fork. (00:31:35)
Continuity mistake: When eating the meal the first time Edward is in Specter, the mayor has some stains on his shirt by his tie. Later in the meal the stains have disappeared. (00:32:10)
Continuity mistake: When Jenny is getting Edward's shoes when he is in Specter, it shows a shot of the poet, with one hand above the table and one below (and he's not rocking). Then it immediately cuts to a shot of him rocking with both hands holding a cup of coffee. (00:32:40)
Continuity mistake: When Edward is reading Norther's poem there is a close-up of the book. When it cuts we can see the way the book is folded that he isn't reading in the same book. (00:32:55)
Continuity mistake: Right after Jenny throws Edward's shoes on the line, the three other characters put their hands out to pull him back into town. The woman puts her hand on his back in one shot, then it's on his shoulder in the next, then back to his back in the next. (00:33:35)
Continuity mistake: When the nude lady jumps into the lake we can see Edward's hand reach out at the bottom of the screen. When it cuts both his hands are under water. (00:34:00)
Continuity mistake: When Specter's poet hands Edward the poem in the close up, the poet is leaning against the tree. Then it cuts to a different camera angle and the poet is sitting out from the tree. (00:34:05)
Continuity mistake: After the poet grabs his poem back from Edward he has the book folded in half and starts to sit down. When it shows a close-up of him sitting the book isn't folded in half. (00:34:30)
Continuity mistake: As Edward leaves Specter you can see the whole street is bright. When it cuts to a front shot of Edward walking, you can see shadows from buildings suddenly appear on the street. (00:37:50)
Continuity mistake: When Edward catches up with Karl after leaving Specter, Edward is standing on the side of the road. When it cuts to them starting to walk he is almost standing in the middle of the road. (00:39:15)
Continuity mistake: At the dinner table when Josephine tells about her article about Morocco Will's mother says "We have to pick up a copy", Will is holding a fork and his other hand is under the table. When it cuts the way he holds the fork change and his other hand is resting on the table. (00:39:55)
Chosen answer: Deregulation of the U. S. savings & loan industry in the early 1980's greatly reduced the restrictions on which federally-chartered S&Ls could invest their money. Since the depositors' money was insured by the federal government, the S&Ls had no incentives to minimize risk. This resulted in a major political scandal by the end of the decade, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars being lost through questionable investments, with taxpayers picking up the tab. Many of the most egregious violators were based in Sun Belt states, including Texas. The fashions do appear to be a bit out of date, however.