Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie, when Simon asks Melvin if he has seen his dog, he has a towel thrown over his shoulder which is differently arranged in shots from the front and from the back. (00:02:15)
Continuity mistake: When Simon comes to Melvin's apartment to tell him that he has found his dog and Melvin tells him not ever to knock at his door, not even when the smell of a decaying body is emanating through the door so that he has to put a hanky to his face because of the stench, the glasses he is holding in his right hand disappear and reappear between shots. (00:07:20)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin tells Simon in very clear terms that he doesn't wish to be disturbed for any reason whatsoever Simon's shirt is open almost down to his belt. When he turns away after Melvin has closed the door the shirt is almost buttoned up. (00:08:20)
Continuity mistake: In the first diner scene we see Carol dealing with some guests and she is not wearing a watch. When she passes by Melvin, who is waiting impatiently for his table, she suddenly has one on her wrist. (00:10:55)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin is chasing the couple away from "his" table the flowers in the vase on the table are red and orange. When he sits down, there is now a large pink flower in there too. (00:12:10)
Continuity mistake: In the first diner scene Melvin sits down and takes off his glasses. He starts fiddling with the button of his breast pocket. When the camera angle changes his hands are somewhere else and the pocket is still buttoned. When it changes again he is putting his glasses into the now unbuttoned pocket. (00:12:20)
Continuity mistake: When Carol brings her date home he lifts her up, puts her on the sofa and starts kissing her down the right side of her neck. When the camera angle changes he is kissing her on her mouth with his head on the other side. (00:14:40)
Continuity mistake: When Simon's picture is unveiled, the model's hand is now not in either of the positions mentioned in the earlier mistake about the model's hand moving. (00:16:45 - 00:23:25)
Continuity mistake: When Simon is explaining to the model how he decides how to paint a person and then tells him to hold it, we see the position the model is in. However, in the very next shot his hand is in a different position it was than when he told him to freeze it. (00:21:10)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin and Carol are talking in the restaurant about Spence's asthma, the plates that Carol is holding are rotated differently in each shot. Also the way she is holding them keeps changing (hand under the plate or thumb over the rim). (00:22:20)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin feeds Verdell for the first time the dog is standing still at the edge of the carpet, facing his dish. When the camera angle changes he is standing further back. Then he lies down, and when the camera angle changes again he is lying at a different spot. (00:28:20)
Continuity mistake: When we see Simon in hospital after being badly beaten up by the thugs, he has long, similar stitches over his face and also over the bridge of his nose. When he is released from hospital most of the cuts have left very visible scars of almost Frankensteinian quality, only the injury on the nose is hardly visible. At the end of the movie, for example when he is talking to his parents over the phone, his nose is now unblemished while the other scars still look quite frightening. (00:30:25 - 01:47:00)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin goes to the restaurant after seeing the psychiatrist and is not served by Carol he bangs on the table and tells the waitress to go and get her. The flowers in the vase on the table change twice in consecutive shots. Pre-bang = yellow, orange and red. Post-bang 1 = white, 2 yellow and red. Post-bang 2 = 2 white and 2 yellow. (00:41:40)
Continuity mistake: When Carol tells Melvin off for trying to teach Spence manners Spence is standing in the kitchen. When the camera angle changes as Carol walks back to the kitchen counter Spence is standing in the background holding on to the door to the living room. (00:45:15)
Continuity mistake: Melvin is sitting at his desk at home. He takes off his glasses and he stands up to look through the window. When he is about to look outside, the camera shot outside his apartment shows that he takes off his glasses again. (00:50:20)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin asks his publisher if her husband doctor can help Spence her hairdo keeps changing between tucked behind her right ear and falling loose over her cheek. (00:50:55)
Continuity mistake: Simon has a rack of pool balls on his coffee table. When Melvin is telling Simon about the bacon, the 2 ball (solid blue) is near the telephone. In the next shot, the dog jumps up to get the bacon and now the 3 ball (solid red) is near the phone. (01:01:20)
Continuity mistake: In the scene before Carol goes to Melvin's house, she is sitting on the couch wide awake. Carol has one blue eye and one brown. (01:02:30)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin gets up to go give Simon some Chinese soup, the clock reads 3:22am. The next scene in Carol's apartment is supposedly later on the same night, yet the babysitter has just arrived, her child is still up, and she and her mom are getting ready to go out for the night (even telling the babysitter that there's pizza in the freezer they can cook later). We know it is supposed to be the same night because in the ensuing scene, Frank tells Melvin he heard he "brought Simon chicken soup last night." (01:04:25)
Continuity mistake: When Melvin answers the door when Carol comes over in the rain, his hair is standing up crazily. In the very next shot, it is neatly pressed down - he didn't have time to run his hands through his hair to fix it between shots. (01:04:30)
Answer: It has everything to do with his mental illness. His OCD condition has kept him isolated with anti-social tendencies. He just finds it difficult to directly interact with people.
raywest ★