Factual error: When Eric goes to help the guy who got hurt after bungee jumping at the dance, the guy's line is long enough to allow him to lay flat on the ground. If it was really that long he would have crashed into the floor and not gone back up.
Factual error: A very common error in First World War films. British soldiers were not permitted to shave their upper lips until 1916 - in 1914 almost all (unless physically unable to grow them) would have had moustaches.
Factual error: The wedding date is given as Saturday June 6, 2001. June 6, 2001 was a Wednesday, and City Hall is closed on Saturday.
Factual error: In the swimming pool scene from Max and Fanny's childhood, there is a modern inflatable plastic pool chair that would not have been available at that time. (01:42:40)
Factual error: In one scene, Vada is showing off her mood ring. The movie is set in 1972 and mood rings were not created until 1975.
Factual error: There is absolutely no way to fit three people in the cockpit of a single seat F16 fighter. There is no large empty space behind the pilot's seat - there is a bulkhead, and behind that a rather obtrusive jet engine. Even the two seater training version of the F16 cannot accommodate three people - there is no space behind either seat large enough for a third person, which this mockup has.
Factual error: In Federal Reserve cash processing facilities, multiple denominations of money are never allowed to mingle.
Factual error: After putting Jenna in the closet, everyone crowds together and plan to leave. One girl holds a diet coke can, which is obviously a more modern design, and not from 1980's. (00:10:30)
Factual error: Roberta has a Meet The Brady Bunch record on her desk. The release date for this record was 1972, yet this film is set in the summer of 1970. (00:12:55)
Factual error: When the Bronco is underwater at the end of the movie, Claire's hands are tied to the steering wheel. Doug rips the steering wheel off. Anyone who has worked on cars knows you need a puller to get a steering wheel off, you can't just rip it by hand.
Factual error: After Zidler tells Satine that she is dying, he is seen walking up a stairway past some sewing women. In an overview of the stairs, a stage light to the left has about a dozen or so frosted light bulbs in it. Frosted, tungsten light bulbs were not invented until the mid-to-late 1920s. Any electric light in 1900 would have had clear, carbon-filament bulbs. And no, those are not glass shades over the bulbs.
Factual error: When Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise arrive in America, the year is 1892, but the flags being passed out at the pier have 50 stars on them. In 1892, there were 44 states.
Factual error: The film is set in 1951 but Peter and Adele have their first dance to the tune "Stranger On The Shore" which was first released in 1961.
Factual error: When Cecelia and her friends are in the car, following Aquamarine, Hailey, and Claire to the water tower, they aren't that far away - probably less than thirty feet - yet the other girls don't hear their car approaching.
Factual error: When it's 1969 we see a boy (I'm not sure which one so you'll have to look) riding a Shwinn Sting-Ray Krate Grey. That bike didn't come out until 1971 and they only made them that one year. (00:02:45)
Factual error: In the scene that takes place in Ollie's office after the death of his wife, he is talking to Arthur Brickman who is sitting in front of a plaque for the band Songs:Ohia's album, "Ghost Tropic." We know that the scene is happening 7 years in the past, because Gertie is a baby. "Ghost Tropic" wasn't released until November of 2000.
Factual error: The frozen treats used at certain points in this movie are labeled with nutrition labels found in the U.S. today. The labels looked extremely different in the 70's.
Factual error: In the opening day clips, they show 49, Tim Wakefield, starting. The starting pitcher that day was 38 Curt Schilling (Wakefield never played that day). Furthermore, the clips show them playing against the Texas Rangers; opening day 2004 was against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Suggested correction: Not Curt Schilling, Bronson Arroyo started the home opener against Toronto in 2004.
Factual error: Early in the movie when the interior of the downed aircraft is shown (underwater in Chesapeake Bay), with the eerie picture of Dutch's wife and the congresswoman's husband sitting underwater in first class with their hair waving slowly in the current, they are shown on the right side of the aircraft (the left side as we are looking at them, but the right side of the plane proper). Yet, when the airline representative is discussing this "problem" (non-married-to-each-other people apparently flying as a couple), they are announced as sitting in row X (don't remember), seats A and B. Aircraft seating is always done from left to right - i.e., the A and B seats would be on the other, or left, side of the aircraft.
Factual error: The mansion Allie is staying in over the summer is Boone Hall Plantation in South Carolina, near Charleston. It was built in the 1930's, so factually the house couldn't have been in the family as long as the characters make it seem. A lot of the filming was also done in Kiawah, an island near Folly Beach.