Factual error: In the montage sequence showing Drew Barrymore hanging out with the math club, they have a Pi poster with 3.1457869986. Only the first 3 digits are actually correct. (Pi = 3.1415926535897...) (00:25:20)
Factual error: The movie is set in the 1860s. During a performance for English guests, Anna has the King's children perform "Bicycle Built For Two". That song, otherwise known as "Daisy Belle" was written by Harry Dacre in 1892. (00:57:50)
Factual error: During one scene where Ronald is giving lessons, he tells Cecile to play a G major scale. After he says this, he adds, "Remember the third note, it's sharp." In a G major scale the third isn't sharp. The seventh is. (00:18:35)
Suggested correction: When playing the cello, there can either be one finger space between the two notes or two. The first G would be just the G string with no fingers. The second note would be A, which means just putting a finger in the correct space on the string. The third note is B. The third note would use the third finger. The alternative, which would be wrong, would be to use the second finger. What Ronald is saying is, rather than use the second finger, you should use the third finger.
This correction seems to validate the mistake. There's nothing in the quote to indicate he's talking about finger positioning, you're not playing a sharp on the 3rd note.
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: In the scene where the fire department responds to the fire, the engine is 42. Yet all the fireman's hats say 6. The engine company, station etc. would all be the same number so their helmets should have also been 42.
Factual error: The Monet stolen by TC is credited as being the first painting in the Impressionist school, a clear reference to Monet's "Impression: Sunrise" of 1872. However, the painting shown during the entire film is "San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight," a 1906 Monet painting.
Factual error: This film takes place on New Year's eve in the year 1981, yet between a couple of scenes, it shows the streets of New York filled with modern-day cars and taxis.
Factual error: Just as Ralph Fiennes is getting out of a car to run across the road you can see, just as he steps out, road markings that were not around in the mid forties and that weren't on the road in a shot just previous when you could see the road behind Fiennes in the car window. (01:09:05)
Factual error: There are two rentals cars driven by "Theresa" which have the same North Carolina license tag number, which is displayed on the front where required in Maine, the actual location of filming, but in North Carolina, license plates are not displayed on the front of the cars.
Factual error: When Ben and Sarah are on top of the train, they shout and it echoes, but there are no flat surfaces for their voices to reverberate off of.
Factual error: Set in the summer of 1977, serial killer David Berkowitz is seen throughout the film wearing a US Army woodland camouflage pattern field jacket. The Army did not start using these jackets nor were any ever made until the early 1980's. They were all solid green until then.
Factual error: Kevin Coster's arrival at spring training is set up by a shot of a beach scene with the caption "Spring Training Lakeland Florida". The shot was not filmed in Lakeland and is not at all representative of this town. Lakeland, Florida is located near the middle of the state, and while it does have many lakes, it is not on the ocean. (I suspect this shot was actually filmed in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, which is at least 200 miles away.) (00:05:56)
Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, Lana and Brandon are driving in a car with 2 other characters, Brandon looks over at Lana then looks out the windshield at the skyline of Dallas, Texas not Nebraska.
Factual error: When Homer and Candy go to the movies, the theater has stadium seating. This seating style in theaters wasn't used until much later, not in the early 1940's, and certainly not in Maine.
Factual error: In the scene where Arthur tries to convince Gertrude to not force her husband to "retire from public life" you can see (in the close up shots) that his right ear has been pierced twice which is inconsistent with the time period.
Factual error: All of the computers show a Mac OS when they're booted up. However, when Peter is shutting his computer down to try to escape his boss, the computer shuts down to a C: prompt. For those not technically minded, a C: prompt is only seen on IBM-compatible PCs, never on Macs. (00:19:20)
Factual error: The song Olga and Lensky sing at the piano was written in the first half of the 20th century, while the events happen about 100 years earlier.
Factual error: When Heather pulls up in her car and confronts Oz after seeing Stifler making fun of her on the Lacrosse field her car has an actual Michigan license plate on it. One of the producers even pointed it out on the DVD thinking that it was a great attention to detail. The only problem with that is the plate is on the front bumper. Michigan does not have licence plates on the front, only in the back. (00:41:10)
Factual error: When the boy is carried home after being stung, several people mention to 'take out the stingers'. As he was stung by wasps, you don't need to do that.
Factual error: Trying to cozy up to Ike, who she knows to be a Miles Davis fan, Maggie gives him a battered-up LP of Davis's "Kind of Blue" album, which he tells here is very rare. Truth is, "Kind of Blue" is one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, and is not rare at all. Furthermore, the album and initial CD pressings had been (inadvertently) mastered at the wrong speed; the mistake wasn't corrected until relatively recent CD issues. The long-player is, in other words, virtually worthless on any count, especially in a jacket as beat-up as the one Maggie gives to Ike.