Movieline

Bad News, Julia Roberts: Mirror, Mirror's Online Praise Might Be Studio-Generated

Last week, you and I watched the first trailer for Tarsem Singh's Mirror, Mirror in slack-jawed horror. (After all, aren't Snow White adaptations supposed to be about the titular princess and not Julia Roberts's aging concerns, Bollywood dance numbers and Armie Hammer's impression of a dog?) Surprisingly though, not all of the Internet's feedback was negative. A few brave souls commented on the Relativity trailer enthusiastically -- and now MovieMavericks.com is claiming that some of those suspicious thumbs-up reviews came from the same source.

MovieMavericks.com points out that several "strangely optimistic comments" posted to their own Mirror, Mirror trailer write-up originated from the same IP address. Upon Google-searching those comments, MovieMavericks discovered that the same IP address user had posted the same positive reviews on other movie websites -- leading them to believe that either A) There is just a very dedicated Brooklyn-based Tarsem Singh fan who is hellbent on raising the bar for Mirror, Mirror buzz. Or B) The studio (or a party involved with the film) is having someone do some web damage control on the atrocious-looking trailer.

Among the copied and pasted positive remarks that MovieMavericks.com cites:

· "Julia Roberts is going to be awesome as the Evil Queen. She's such a good actress!"

· "Definitely seeing this with my boyfriend! Can't wait to see Lily Collins in action!!"

· "Tareem [sic] Singh makes awesome movies. Immortals was amazing and this will be too."

For the record, the only positive comments that the trailer received when Movieline posted it last week were from user Laurietimes2 ("Count me in!!!") and Rom Issy ("Beautiful scenery and costumes, fairytale story and a comedy? That rocks. In.").

Most commenters only had negative feedback though, exclaiming "AHAHAHAHAHA...oh wait, you mean it's not a comedy?" or comparing it to a "90s ABC Disney TV-Movie musical" and calling Lily Collins's Snow White "a plain looking woman with Dan Hedaya eyebrows!"

Do you think that the strangely positive remarks about a trailer that looks exceptionally bad is studio-related? Please let me know in the comments section below after watching Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer in the Mirror, Mirror trailer. Maybe you'll discover that the film is "definitely worth seeing" upon second viewing.

· Mirror, Mirror Astroturfing -- Who's Behind It? [MovieMavericks.com] via Who's Faking 'Mirror Mirror' Praise? Hmm [Deadline]