I thought I caught a payphone goof in this short scene from the movie “American Psycho”, filmed in 1999. I noticed that the actor dials a number but it’s only 7 digits. I thought mandatory ten-digit dialing had been around a lot longer than it has. Turns out it was not made mandatory in the five boroughs until 2003, after this film was made. So the movie gets a pass on that count.

The number he dialed appeared to have been 555-5555.

The phone is likely a prop, since this was filmed in Toronto but set in New York. I don’t think Canadian phones and enclosures typically looked like this one. I’m happy to be wrong, though, and for this to be a real-world payphone used in this scene.

I did not watch any of the rest of this film.

https://youtu.be/Ye1gpxXj_cc