Goofs for
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Crew or equipment visible: In the scene when Benjamin meets his daughter you can see a crew member's arm keeping the door to the studio closed.
  
  
• Factual errors: The tug boat Chelsea gets into a gun battle with the German submarine U-497. However, while construction began on a U-boat with this number, it was never completed and therefore could not have been involved.
  
  
• Continuity: In the hotel lobby, the cigarette pack Daisy put in her pocket was red, but the pack laid on the kitchen table was green.
  
  

• Anachronisms: A 1940s radio jingle for Pepsi-Cola can be heard in the background during a daylight porch scene which, based on the film's chronology, should take place in the mid 1920s.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: As Benjamin watches Daisy in the ballet, he says via narration he'd never seen New York before that. Earlier in the film as he describes his tugboat route, the Statue of Liberty can clearly be seen in the background. However, this indicates he only saw New York in passing.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the scene where Benjamin has been alive for 17 years (making the date 1935) he walks out onto the street pursued by young Daisy. A modern day fire hydrant (with the anti-turn valve on top) can be seen on the street.
  
  
• Continuity: When Benjamin first makes tea for the channel swimmer in the glass mugs, the level of liquid fluctuates with each camera shot.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the wharf scene when Benjamin joins the tugboat crew, two bridges are visible in the background. This event is prior to World War II. The first of these bridges was constructed beginning in 1954 and opened in 1958. The second was begun in 1981 and opened in 1988. Neither was there prior to World War II.
  
  
• Continuity: When Benjamin first sees Daisy he comments on how blue her eyes are but when they age Daisy the young actress doesn't have blue eyes. They eventually revert to being blue when Cate Blanchett plays Daisy.
  
  
• Factual errors: Oti is referred to as a pygmy and refers to madjembe (a pygmy word for intestinal worms) which places him as a native of The Congo or Central African Republic. However, he tells Benjamin that his country has been divided by the English and Dutch. The Congo and Central African Republic were only colonized by Belgium while the English and Dutch colonized South Africa.
  
  
• Factual errors: Oti is described as a pygmy but the newspaper article refers to him as a Bushman; However, this could just reflect the ignorance of the newspaper editor
  
  
• Anachronisms: The film seems to ignore the prohibition of alcohol from 1920-1932. It was only after prohibition that bourbon was widely available; prior to giving world-wide distribution of rye whiskey to Canada, when whiskey cocktails were made it was normally with the rye whiskey made by US distilleries. The original "Sazerac" was created in New Orleans in 1859 and named by John Stiller who owned the Sazerac Coffee House.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: The reflection of camera and crew in a red car as the camera follows Dasiy as she walks out and down the street of the old peoples home.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the scene where the analog clock is being taken down and replaced by a digital one, an ad for the U.S. Army National Guard is shown bearing the "Citizen/Soldier" advertisement. However, this ad was introduced in late 2007, which was a couple years after the end of the film, 2005.
  
  
• Factual errors: Soldiers in the First World War would not be issued their weapons until they arrived near the front. They certainly wouldn't carry them when saying goodbye to their family when boarding the train to embarkation.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The characters of Benjamin and Daisy both have blue eyes (a recessive trait), yet they have a daughter with brown eyes (a dominant trait). Biology tells you that two people with a recessive trait can have a child with a dominant trait when multiple alleles are involved.
  
  
• Continuity: A maroon 1963 Pontiac Starchief appears outside the dance studio shortly after it opens. It later passes Benjamin and Daisy while they ride the streetcar. It is seen once more passing by on the street as they celebrate Caroline's 1st birthday (in 1969).
  
  
• Errors in geography: When Daisy and Benjamin reunite and take off for the Florida Keys, the pictures include beach scenes with mountains in the background. There are no mountains in the Florida Keys.
  
  
• Anachronisms: During the sequence after Benjamin leaves Daisy and their young daughter and travels through India, Benjamin is shown in front of a building which prominently features the phrase "ISO 9002". Based on the time sequence of the movie, this would be in the very late 1970s or perhaps 1980. ISO 9002 is among the internationally-recognized quality management certifications that were first introduced in 1987.
  
  
• Continuity: During the scenes in the hospital room, the reading on the IV pump connected to Daisy is always 968 mL.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Daisy (and to some extent, also Benjamin) speaks in fairly prominent Coastal Southern American accent. She would have sounded a bit out of place (and a bit refined) for 20th century New Orleans.
  
  
• Factual errors: Benjamin spends a few idyllic weeks in Murmansk in December 1941 (there he hears the news about Pearl Harbor). But in June 1941 Russia was invaded by Germany. As one of the main bases of the Soviet navy, Murmansk was constantly under ferocious attacks, up until October 1944. So in no way could it be as peaceful and quiet there as we see in the movie.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Russian soldiers that we see in the Murmansk bar, where Captain Mike tells about fly-birds, are wearing an impossible uniform: mixture of tsarist, pre-1917 era and of the Soviet uniform created in 1943. In 1941, when the action takes place, Soviet soldiers hadn't yet shoulder boards.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Benjamin is sailing his father's sailboat on Lake Pontchartrain about 1962. It is a classic wooden vessel correct for the time period but has been outfitted with modern Harken brand ball bearing blocks (pulleys) that hadn't been invented yet. Harken blocks were introduced in 1968 for small racing dinghies. The type needed for a keel boat of that size weren't marketed until the early 70s.
  
  
• Factual errors: Benjamin is in Murmansk in late November/early December based on the radio report of the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, he sits with Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) until dawn. Murmansk, presently the largest city above the Arctic Circle, would be in polar nights with 24 hours of darkness at that time of the year. There would be no sunshine. The same for when the tugboat crew left shortly after the 7th with sunlight streaming in the windows.
  
  
• Continuity: When Captain Mike was shot in his boat, he falls down on right side, maneuvering boat to the right, but boat maneuvers to left as it starts approaching submarine.
  
  
• Factual errors: During WW2, German U-boats had their white painted numbers from the conning tower removed, whereas in the film you can quite clearly see the number "497" on the side of the conning tower.
  
  
• Continuity: The room where Benjamin and Elizabeth Abbott made love in, its door was opened from the left. But later when Benjamin enter the room and got the letter, the door was opened from the right.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The backwards clock has a smoothly sweeping second hand, indicating it is motor-driven. But it's an escapement mechanism; when it's shown in storage after being taken down, you can hear the ticking.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When talking about how the tugboat has been commissioned into the US Navy the day right after Pearl Harbor (Dec 8, 1941), the captain says "We will fight the Japs and the Hun". The Hun refers to the Germans, but they didn't declare war on the US until Dec 11, 1941.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Benjamin narrates that he goes home in 1945, yet he is wearing glasses from the brand Ray-Ban that were not yet made until 1952, originally as an aviator sunglass.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In 1945, Benjamin goes to dinner with Daisy, and the man who lights her cigarette uses a slim Zippo, which weren't in production until around the early-mid 50s.
  
  
• Errors in geography: As Benjamin and Daisy are (according to the narration) sailing in the Florida Keys there is a quick shot of a rocket ascending. However, the NASA launch facility is in Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic coast of Florida - hundreds of miles northeast of the Keys.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Benjamin is seen tinkering with an Enfield Bullet motorcycle. But it contains a "Black letter on White" number-plate. "Black on White" were introduced for private vehicles only by 2000. Earlier "Black on White" plates were for taxis; private vehicles had "White on black" plates.
  
  
• Continuity: When Thomas Button puts newborn Benjamin on the steps of the nursing home he leaves some bills of cash inside the baby blanket, but in the next scene when Queenie pulls back the blanket the money has disappeared. Since the cash was placed inside the fold of the blanket where Benjamin's face is, the bills should have been clearly visible or at least have dropped out of the blanket when Queenie exposes the baby's face.
  
  
• Continuity: When Benjamin and Elizabeth Abbott are having their first tea encounter all the scenes that show the face of Elizabeth the glass appears to be be almost empty. When they show Benjamin's face her glass is nearly full of tea.
  
  
• Factual errors: On the DVD of the film, the closed captioning refers to "Boger City," Louisiana. It's actually "Bossier City."
  
  
• Anachronisms: In 1945 when Daisy and Benjamin are having dinner, Daisy is smoking a filter cigarette. Filter cigarettes were not available until several years later.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Thomas Button first is seen in the movie observing Benjamin during an outdoor gathering at the old folks house, he gets immediately into his car and leaves, the camera pans back to Benjamin with a power pole visible behind him. The pole has a modern cable television/internet wire running down it, just above his shoulder.
  
  
• Plot holes: The majority of the story is narrated by Benjamin, or at least written down in his diary. However, the entire 'butterfly effect' scene which he narrates as a prelude to informing us about Daisy's injury contains a number of assumptions and details that he would not have been privy to - the cab driver stopping for coffee, the gift not being wrapped etc. In this scene the narrator assumes omniscience and is not consistent with the rest of the narrative.
  
  
• Anachronisms: There are several shots of Daisy dancing. The execution of the ballet, however, is very modern and athletic, with long extensions and high arabesques. It was not appropriate for the time period, when ballet had a very different style.
  
  
• Continuity: When Daisy dances by the lake after dinner with Benjamin her coat that she drops to the ground is moved between various shots of her dancing.
  
  

• Plot holes: SPOILER: In a scene from the hospital, Ben's daughter sees all the postcards and realises that he sent her a birthday postcard in 1981 when she "was 13" and she quotes from it before it links to a corresponding event in India. This is followed by a scene where a 'younger' (looking), and thereby 'older', Ben visits them at the dance school and Daisy tells Ben that their daughter is now "12". This could only be possible if he visited the school before he went to India, but if Ben is 'younger' then it must be after he got back.
  
  
• Factual errors: SPOILER: Theodore Roosevelt is shown at a dedication for a clock in New Orleans' Union Station in November 1918. This event is unlikely to have occurred; according to his NY Times obituary, he was hospitalized during that time for rheumatism before he died of a pulmonary embolism in January 1919.
  
  

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