Factual error: When Hope is driving the pickup in the car chase, she yanks the parking brake, causing a tank of propane to fly out the tailgate and into the car that is chasing her. This is completely impossible. The tank would have slid in the other direction (forward) and slammed into the back of the cab when she slowed down. (00:38:10)
Factual error: When the Marines strip off and run into the sea in the final scene, Doc takes off a pair of white socks that would be more appropriate for a final at Wimbledon. Not only are they white rather than khaki, they are virtually spotlessly clean which would be impossible after a week of fighting on the black sands of Iwo Jima.
Factual error: The first time Miranda Priestly arrives in the office, everyone scrambles to make themselves look better. One girl uses her webcam to apply makeup, but the image shown in the computer monitor is as though the monitor is a mirror. Given that she is looking directly at the screen rather than at the webcam itself, her eyes should not be shown looking directly into the monitor, but rather just below (if it is a top-mounted webcam).
Factual error: The family passes an exit for Carefree Highway. This is an exit off I-17 a few miles North of Phoenix. At that point they would be about 10 miles from Scottsdale. Yet they drive all day and that night they are still within scooter range from Scottsdale.
Factual error: The movie is supposed to be set in South Carolina and shows license plates on the front of cars. But cars in South Carolina don't have license plates on the front.
Factual error: When asked how many seas the water from the Triton light is from, Huard says eight and is corrected with an answer of seven. The real number is 22.
Factual error: When Izzy urges Tom to watch through the telescope on the rooftop, he just looks and sees the nebula. From space observations done by myself, I know that the earth rotation is so fast that even for this amount of time, a manual correction must be done to center the view again.
Factual error: When American Cosair fighter planes strafe the Japanese soldiers with their machine guns, only two columns of bullets are seen striking the ground. These planes had six machine guns; there should be six columns.
Factual error: In an early runway scene, a billboard for the film Chicken Little (2005) can be seen in the background.
Factual error: When the crowd is gathered outside of the Armstrong homes, there is an extra wearing a "G-Unit" shirt. The movie was set in 1999, but G-Unit didn't launch their clothing line until 2003.
Factual error: The movie apparently takes place in a Boston suburb, judging from the Massachusetts license plates, but, in the scene in the train station, the words "Long Island Railroad" are on a sign.
Factual error: The helicopter believed to be carrying Howard Hughes is a Eurocopter AS-350, a design that had its first flight in 1974, three years after the events of this film. (00:02:00 - 01:18:40)
Factual error: When Chris is running from the cabbie he jumps into a train, and in the process gets his scanner stuck in the door, which he loses hold of as the train begins to move. BART trains will not move unless all doors are secure, so this could not have happened. (00:30:00)
Factual error: When Josh Hartnett's character pulls up the bathroom tile and find the cash, the bills are labeled "Federal Reserve Notes." Federal Reserve Notes didn't come into use until the 1960s. Back at the time of the Black Dahlia murder, Silver Certificates were in use.
Factual error: In a bleak snowy cityscape that depicts New York City in the late 1970's, there is a small satellite dish attached to a rooftop. It is the kind that DirectTV and the Dish network employ today, but probably not at the time period in question.
Factual error: When the boys go for their Oxbridge interviews, the weather is beautiful, very sunny and warm, summer. However, all Oxbridge interviews take place in early December.
Factual error: Midway through the film, the IRA flying column successfully ambushes a motorised British patrol. Immediately afterwards, when the column's survivors are milling about on the roadway, one IRA man is shown to be armed with a German Mauser Kar 98k bolt action rifle. This is historically incorrect, as this weapon did not go into production until after Hitler's assumption of power in the 1930's - at least thirteen years after the events depicted in the film.
Factual error: The hanging is shown using the "standard drop", with a trapdoor, breaking the neck. This was not introduced until the 19th century (after France had abandoned the gallows for the guillotine), whereas the film is set in the 18th century. In those days the victim was just strung up on the gallows and left to strangulate (the "short drop").
Factual error: In the ending credits, in the cast section, the word "Mobile" is misspelled as "Mobil" five times.
Factual error: When Scarlet decides to ram the other car, she asks 'Him' if there is a green Pontiac behind her. Him answers yes. In fact, the car is a Chevrolet Camaro, not a Pontiac. Him may be a detached actor that knows nothing about cars, but Scarlet knows the car and its owner well, and the owner's reaction proves the car hit was the intended target. (00:29:15)