Continuity mistake: When the bobsled team is getting their act together in Calgary, there's a scene of them pushing off with an unpainted bobsled. In the shots of the feet of the guys pushing at the back of the sled, you can see that the lower back of the sled is painted black with green stripes, the colours that they paint the sled in a scene a few minutes later.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Tina Turner is running away from Ike she has to cross a freeway. If you look closely you will see that she has on high heels then she has on sneakers as she is running across the freeway.
Factual error: In at least two scenes, cars from the 1990's can be seen, despite the fact that the film took place two decades earlier. (00:50:00)
Factual error: When the camera took a shot on a train coming to a station in Czechoslovakia, you can see electric cables above the train tracks. There was no such thing in Czechoslovakia as electrified trains in the 1940's. The electrification started in the 1950's. (00:01:05)
Factual error: After showing a picture from 1955 when he was eight, the narrator (Shayne) states that he was fifteen by 1962. The story begins with his mother getting fired from her job at a potato chip factory and making the decision that night to move the next morning. The family moves from L.A. to Kingston, Idaho. Shayne's mother Fran tells Mr. Moon that they (she and whatever work her kids do for him around the house) want paid "minimum wage plus 10%" to pay for the land and when she gets hired at the bowling alley she is told the job pays "minimum wage" (plus any tips, which "ain't much"). Idaho did not establish a minimum wage until 1963, a year (or some months) later. The narrator even asserted at the beginning "This is a true story. It really happened to me." (00:20:03 - 00:23:47)
Continuity mistake: Dwight is showing Toby a Boy's Life magazine. As the camera angle changes he goes from holding it with the back of his hand facing Toby to facing away and back again. (00:45:50)
Factual error: During the scene where Bruce leaves his girlfriend's parents home, it's raining. He leaves in a huff on his motorcycle and you can clearly hear the sound of screeching rubber on the pavement. Peeling out and making this sound would not have been possible in a rainstorm.
Continuity mistake: In the prosecuting attorney's speech in the first courtroom scene, the judge's house of cards is no more than 2 levels high (a base level with a peak) [0:2:20]. In the close-up shot of the judge, the house of cards changes to 3 levels high (2 base levels and a peak)[0:2:35]. When the scene focuses back on the prosecuting attorney, the house is back to two levels of height[0:2:39]. (00:02:20)
Factual error: When the convictions are overturned, the defendants' solicitor, Gareth Pearce (played by Emma Thompson) is shown arguing their case in court. In England solicitors cannot appear in the higher courts, and in fact a barrister presented the case. However, the film is 'dramatically correct' because it was Gareth Pearce who got them freed, and the barrister in question is far too full of herself without having the honour of being portrayed by Emma T.