Goofs

When Alex shows his brother the lake house in 2004, he mentions that the house has no way to reach the water and that there should be a staircase so that you could go swimming. He adds the stairs himself later on. However, when Alex receives the book of his father's memoirs, he looks at a photo of his father and himself, a child, at the lake house. There are clearly stairs leading down to the water underneath the house, but the stairs did not exist until Alex added them in 2004.

When we first see the lake house tree, the shape of the leaf is different from the leaf that is present in two years later. The first doesn't appear to be the same type of Maple.

When Alex first meets Morgan at his house in 2004, there are dead leaves all over the yard of Morgan's house like it's the fall, but all the trees around are bright green and it's obviously spring- some of the trees are just starting to sprout leaves.

The tree planted outside of Kate's apartment moved down the street from where Alex actually planted it.

When Kate arrives at the bar she asks for a glass of wine. Immediately after her fellow resident doctor arrives and though we have not seen Kate drinking that much, in the next shot the glass is nearly empty.

Then Lake house has a flat roof with a tree growing through it, yet both characters refer to and look into the non-existent attic.

In Kate's first letter to Alex she mentions the paw prints and a box in the attic. The lake house is a flat roof design, except for the sliding greenhouse roof above the tree. There is no space for a slanted attic space.

Kate and Alex are supposed to be living exactly two years apart throughout the film which is not possible because 2004 was a leap year, 2006 wasn't. Once it got to February 28th for both, the next day would be February 29th for Alex but March 1st for Kate.

The "freak late snowstorm" Kate tells Alex about took place on April 3, as this is the date on Kate's photo. Snow is normal enough in the Midwest in early April, especially in Chicago, so close to lake Michigan. A month later, perhaps, could be considered a late snow.

Kate takes the Amtrak train out of the Riverside station to Madison, however the only trains that stop at the Riverside station are Metra trains to and from Chicago only, no Amtrak trains stop there. Further, Amtrak does not have service to Madison. As of 2011, there is no train service between Chicago and Madison.

Alex and Kate could not meet on their dates because of Alex's death.However,when Alex survived from his accident,he could meet with Kate on their dates instead of waiting for 2 years.

The tree which Alex plants grows something like 20 feet taller in two years.

When Alex visits the hospital to check on his father, his father asks for coffee. Alex returns with the coffee. The actor, Christopher Plummer opens his coffee cup to drink from it. The cup is empty. It's good acting, but a poor camera angle that reveals this mistake.

In one scene there is snow on the ground where the house is located, but if you look across the lake there is no snow on the opposite bank.

When Kate is with her mother at the diner, she is sitting in front of a poster for an event taking place in December 2004 but she is in 2006. This could be an old poster just kept on the wall but it seems like it may be an oversight.

Kate brings Alex's father's book to the lake house. She isn't seen putting it in the mailbox, because it's much too big to fit inside. Yet Alex gets it. Is there another way of passing things between them besides the mailbox?

The taxicabs in the film have the same color license plates in 2004 and 2006, even though Illinois taxi license plates are reissued annually with different colors. The blue plates shown in the film are the 2005 series.

The taxicabs in the film have the same color license plates in 2004 and 2006, even though Illinois taxi license plates are reissued annually with different colors. The blue plates shown in the film are the 2005 series.

When Alex realizes it's Valentine's Day, he asks his brother "Valentine's Day, 2006?" but his mouth clearly says 2004.*

When Kate is writing to Alex asking him to call her July 10, 2006 at 9:05 p.m., she mouths "July 10, 2004", but we hear 2006.

While looking through the pictures she says "...in the year 2004" but her mouth says 2002.

Mona's words at the job site, as she's talking to Alex in the beginning, don't match her mouth.

Alex tells his brother he "bought a house on the lake." Henry replies that Alex must be "making money." In Chicago, "the lake" would mean Lake Michigan and a house on lakefront property would be expensive. While the Lake House is clearly on a lake somewhere, it's definitely not on Lake Michigan.

Before Kate sends the red scarf to Alex, she discusses the snow storm coming and says to the dog 'remember that day you were not happy' but the dog was supposedly with Alex in his time already and couldn't possibly have been with Kate during that snow storm.

Kate and Morgan are in the apartment. Kate is annoyed and stomps over to the bedroom area and breaks loose a piece of the hardwood. Hidden there, in a white paper bag, is the book that Alex retrieved for her when Kate had left it at the train station in 2004. Yet we never see the scene on how Alex could have possibly been able to put the book away under the hardwood floor.

The storyline hinges on Kate not knowing the name of the man who was killed by the bus on Valentines Day at Daley Plaza. Kate was severely affected by not being able to save the man, so it seems very unlikely she would not take the time to find out who the man was. But if she had, she would know Alex died on February 14, 2006.

At around 20:23, when describing Jack the dog for the first time, Morgan refers to Jack as "she". ("She's skinny, has sad eyes, snores and sleeps like a person. I don't know why, but I call her Jack." At around 25:11, while describing what she likes to do, Morgan says, "Reading the classics to Jack," at which point Alex responds, "Hmm... Who's his favourite?"

When Alex catches up with his dog, Jack, at Morgan and Kate's house, Alex tells Morgan that Jack is a she, not a he. A few moments later, Alex's girlfriend, Mona, catches up with Alex and his dog. She says about the dog, "Oh, I see you found him."

Alex is educated yet says "My mother chose to take care of my brother and I", circa 1 hour into the movie. Most Americans don't know how to speak their own language. The correct grammar is: "to take care of my brother and me", but most Americans have heard countless times (without noticing context) that: "the correct form is "you and I" and, thus, keep using "you and I" when that is only valid in the nominative case. Keanu's Alex used it in the accusative case, therefore it is "my brother and me".

When Jack is finally caught, Alex clearly and loudly says "girl" when talking to the dog, but Morgan still refers to the dog as a male.