Trial and Error Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nevada

The film begins in Los Angeles, but most of the action in "Trial and Error" takes place in Paradise Bluff, Nevada. The film is vague about where the fictional town is, but it is somewhere near the Sierra Nevada mountains. Most of the filming took place in Lone Pine and Independence, California.

"Trial and Error" was the seventh film directed by Jonathan Lynn. His earlier work includes "My Cousin Vinny" (1992) and "The Distinguished Gentleman" (1992). In the film, a lawyer on the fast track travels to a small town to help a relative of his boss. He gets drunk, gets in a bar fight, and gets zonked out on pain pills. In an effort to help, his actor friend takes his place in court, and they must keep up the charade so they don't go to prison.

Answer: Jeff Daniels

Charlie Tuttle is a guy who seemingly has the perfect life. He just made partner in a major LA law firm, he is engaged to his boss' daughter. He was class valedictorian, graduated Yale and Yale Law (associate editor, law review) and was licensed as an attorney in three states. The name of his firm was Whitfield and Morris.

Jeff Daniels began his acting career in the early eighties. His first big break was in the Academy Award winning film "Terms of Endearment" (1983). While he has acted consistently in films for decades, he may be best known for "Dumb and Dumber" (1994) in which he played Harry. More recently, he played television anchor Will McAvoy on the Aaron Sorkin series "The Newsroom" (2012-14).

What Daniels shares with the other three is that all were born in 1955. In 1997, Costner was in "The Postman", Gallagher was in the Bill Murray comedy "The Man Who Knew Too Little" and Bruce Willis was in "The Fifth Element". Bruce wins.

Answer: She graduated from college with a degree in astronomy.

When she first meets Charlie, she claims that she is a college graduate and was going to Berkeley to get her Masters degree. Near the end of the film, Billie admits that she flunked out of college and was too afraid to face her parents.

As for the rest: she works as a waitress at the Dupont Hotel, and at a local bar; she has a tattoo on her thigh of a moon and stars0aAnd she does have a copy of "Leaves of Grass" with her laundry. She is also a fan of Aretha Franklin.

"Trial and Error" was fairly early in Charlize Theron's career, only her fourth film. But her career took off fairly rapidly, and by 2003 she had won an Academy Award for playing serial killer Aileen Wournos in "Monster". More recently, she appeared in "Mad Max: Thunder Road" (2015), "Atomic Blonde" (2017) and "Tully" (2018).

Answer: False

The mystical woman on the motorcycle turns out be Elizabeth, the prosecutor (Jessica Steen). At the end of the movie, Richard is on the bike with her.

Canadian actress Jessica Steen started working in 1981. While much of her work has been in television, she has done quite a few films. She has been a recurring character on the Canadian drama "Heartland" which began in 2007. Other major television gigs include "Earth 2" (1994-95) and "Homefront" (1991-93).

Answer: Actor

Richard is an actor, although based on the audition we see at the start of the film, he might not have been all that successful at it. However, he does do a pretty good job of acting like an attorney in the courtroom.

Michael Richards from "Seinfeld" (1989-1998) played Richard. He got his start on the sketch comedy series "Fridays" in the early 1980s. He won three Emmys for his "Seinfeld" work as Cosmo Kramer. He suffered the "Seinfeld Curse" with a very short-lived self titled series in 2000. Richards was a regular on Kirstie Alley's 2013-2014 show "Kirstie."

Answer: fraud

The prosecutor noted that he has been engaging in confidence schemes for decades but had never been convicted. His latest scam involves selling copper engravings of Abraham Lincoln for $17.99 - the "engravings" turned to be pennies. Elizabeth the prosecutor mentions a Mister Parnell, a partner of Gibbs who was robbed of his life savings.

Answer: semaphore flags

At the start, they use flash cards. This works until Charlie blows up in court, the judge charges him with contempt and kicks him out of court. He goes up to the roof and enters the ventilation system, where he is able to give hints to Richard from the air duct above the courtoom. That works until the ceiling caves in and Charlie falls into the courtoom, and is thrown out of the building and given a 100 foot perimeter.

They then work out a system to use walkie talkies and horn honks to signal objections. This works until Charlie runs off with Billie and a traffic jam leaves Richard confused and rambling.

At no point did semaphore flags show up in the movie.

Answer: Austin Pendleton

Austin Pendleton played a rather ineffective attorney in "My Cousin Vinny" (1992). Director Jonathan Lynn promotes him to judge in "Trial and Error."

Joe Pesci was the title character, a sharp attorney, in "My Cousin Vinny". Lane Smith played prosecutor Jim Trotter, and James Rebhorn was automotive expert George Wilbur.

Austin Pendleton, an actual graduate of Yale, has been acting since 1968, in films and television. His roles include Max in "The Muppet Movie" (1979), Howard Marner in "Short Circuit" (1986) and Gurgle in "Finding Nemo" (2003) and "Finding Dory" (2016).

Answer: self defense

They start off with insanity as a defense, but it goes off the rails pretty quickly when their expert psychiatric witness turns out not to have much expertise. He was played by "Doogie Howser" sidekick Max Casella.

Richard then goes with sugar addiction and has a friend of his with highly questionable medical credentials (Jennifer Coolidge) attempt to explain nutrition. She tries to claim that sugar and cocaine are chemically similar.

Richard puts Benny on the stand, and he spins an absurd tale of being an orphan who was locked out of the orphanage after saving children from drowning. It was entertaining, but utter nonsense.

Since Benny is up on fraud charges, self defense could not possibly be a plausible defense.

Answer: False

After Benny's sob story, Elizabeth offers a plea deal of one year in minimum security. Benny refuses to accept the deal, thinking the jury would let him go free.

Benny is wrong. They come back with a verdict of guilty, despite a pretty good closing statement by Richard, and Benny is facing up to five years in prison. He is likely to get the maximum, given how much the judge dislikes him.