* ActorAllusion: Gabe's mom is no stranger [[Series/SexAndTheCity to the New York city dating scene]].
* DawsonCasting: Charlie Ray was about 13 playing 11-year-old Rosemary and Josh Hutchinson as 10-year-old Gabe, turned 13 around time the movie opened.
* EnforcedMethodActing: That first kiss the kids have on-camera really was the actors' first.
* RealSongThemeTune: The movie's opening, "Only The Strongest Survive" by Music/ElvisPresley.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/AnnaSophiaRobb auditioned for the role of Rosemary before Charlie Ray was cast. She and Josh Hutcherson would star together in ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia'', which came out two years later.
* WriteWhoYouKnow:
** According to the commentary track, Willie Garson was cast in the movie because he's friends with the director and was even his college roommate.
** Josh Pais, who plays the man Gabe's mother dates throughout the film, is also a personal friend of the writer and director, and is frequently cast in their projects.