Factual error: When the TV store is closing at Bloomingdale's, The Richard Simmons Show is shown on the monitors. In 1984, when the film is set, this show was broadcast only in the morning and was not released in syndication. The show would therefore not have been playing on a television channel in New York City in the late evening.
Factual error: After Allen and Madison jump into the water at the end of the movie and fend off the frogmen, they immediately come upon a coral reef and other aquatic features that appear tropical and which would not be found in the Hudson River/New York Harbor.
Factual error: When Allen falls into the water after Fat Jack's boat hits him, his wallet falls out of his pocket and rests on a coral reef. The ocean off Cape Cod is much too cold for coral reefs.
Answer: The sea hag gives Madison a set of instructions she has to carry out, and tells her that she can only survive out of the ocean for six days. She also tells her she has to wet her tail every day, which is why Madison is seen in the bathtub.
raywest ★
That's why she took a bath that night and got her legs wet turning them into fins.