Factual error: I live in Chicago, and live near where they filmed the outside shots. Every time we see Mel coming out of his apartment, the address says 2400 Lakeview Drive. However, anyone who lives by here knows that this particular building has no balconies, and Mel repeatedly went out, or looked over his balcony. (00:05:20 - 00:43:00)
Factual error: Right at the end, Memphis escapes by jumping via a flatbed towtruck. The ramp is put down on those to tow away a vehicle so it should be backed right up to a vehicle to lift it on. That begs the question of why the ramp was down with no vehicles anywhere near it. The maximum distance that any driver would want to maneuver with the ramp down would be a couple of feet straight back.
Factual error: When Bunty is the first to test the 'thrust' with the elastic, she is attached to a rope, which winds on for metres and metres, attached to a post at the other end. Why then, does it take a second or two for Bunty to be flung from the roller skate (or whatever she was travelling on) from the point we see the rope at full taughtness?
Factual error: After the attempted kidnapping, Norm Macdonald's face is in the Newspaper the next morning. This is not possible because the crime was committed the night before and not discovered until the very morning his face is in the Paper. There would not be enough time for that article to be written.
Factual error: It's impossible to receive a phone call on a Bell Canada public phone, as Jill did. (01:25:10)
Factual error: This movie is supposed to be set in the 80's as it says in the beginning of the movie, however, during many shots where the street is visible from the news broadcast center or the scene with John Travolta in the street, there are many cars which were not around. One of these cars, for example is a 2000 Dodge Intrepid.
Factual error: When the husband swims to the other side of the lake to get some stuff in the truck, he lights his cigarette on one side and when he arrives on the other side, it's still lit. How could he swim trough the lake without getting his smoke wet?
Factual error: The sight of Andrea's body after she died of a heroin overdose should have been much more graphic. She wasn't foaming at the mouth, there were no needle tracks on her arm, and the cut she made on her leg a few days prior to her death is no longer there.
Factual error: In the film we can see the jacket that Marilyn Monroe was wearing the day she married Joe DiMaggio, only the colour is wrong. We are shown a dark black jacket, though it actually was a brown one. (00:18:25)
Factual error: At the end when the cops come after the fights. Ice Cube seems to be able to 1. tell the cops who to arrest even though the cops just arrived. And 2. Walk right out the front door of a house being raided by several cops with a the cash cylinder and no-one even seems to care. In reality everyone would have been arrested in handcuffs, questioned at the scene, and only released when or if it was determined they were not doing anything illegal.
Factual error: The envelope sent to Austin, Texas has the ZIP code 50321. This is a zip code for Des Moines, Iowa. All Austin ZIP codes start in 78.
Factual error: Whenever the group get their passports, they seem to get it on the actual day they apply for it - much much faster than normal.
Factual error: Nonna knew the Australia (ie, Josie's real grandfather) in 1945 - the photograph is dated. Josie's mother was born from this union, and had Josie when she was 17. During the film, Josie herself is seventeen. About thirty-five years would have passed, then, making the present about 1980 or so. But it's quite clear (from the fashions, technology, streetscapes, dialogue, references, music, cars, etc, etc) that it's around 2000 or so, twenty years too late.
Factual error: Alex's 6-year-old kid must be a very powerful little boy: when he grabs that model aeroplane glue tube it bursts in the air like water.
Factual error: Easy to spot. The chocolates are referred to as Belgian at the beginning of the movie, but you can see they are in fact Baci by Perugina (from Italy).
Factual error: If you've ever been to Sydney you'll realise howw wrong a lot of the locations are in this film. For example the girls are apparently "surfing" at Manly Beach, a huge surf beach almost three kilometres long on the Northside of Sydney. The girls actually "surf" at a waveless, inner-harbour bay about one hundred metres long that I believe is in the Eastern suburbs. You can actually see land beyond the water.
Factual error: The Colorado state police car following the RV is white with red stripes down the side of the chassis. Colorado police cars have blue stripes.
Factual error: When Snow Plough Man drives his truck around clearing snow, he honks the horn of his truck by pushing the button on the steering wheel. The sound that is made is an air horn. In reality the button on the steering wheel of a truck honks an electric horn like a car. The air horn is actuated by a rope or cable hanging from the ceiling.
Factual error: In the scene with the giant hamster, the hamster is making squeaking noises. These unique noises are actually made only by guinea-pigs, not hamsters. Hamsters don't make any sounds at all. (01:14:45)
Factual error: Hernando Cortes is featured as the main background villain. Only thing about his appearance: according to the history books, he never actually ventured into South America to do any conquests; his actions were limited to Cuba, Mexico and California.