Why watch people read bad mail? Dumb-Bell Letters No. 13 is weirdly charming.

Is it worth your time?

If you have a weird sense of humor and enjoy watching people struggle with the absolute basics of communication, you'll like this. If you need a plot, high-stakes drama, or, you know, anything resembling a coherent narrative, stay far away. This is basically a curio cabinet of human failure captured on film. 💌

It’s hard to call this a "movie" in the traditional sense. It’s more like someone found a box of old, confusing fan mail and decided to make it the star of the show. Juliet Jowell clearly spent way too much time digging through these files, and honestly, I’m glad she did.

There’s something hypnotic about reading—or hearing—total nonsense from a century ago. These people were writing to businesses with the confidence of a king and the brainpower of a literal brick. 🧱

The Rhythm of the Ridiculous

The pacing is entirely dictated by the letters themselves. Some are short, punchy, and make you want to throw your monitor out the window. Others drag on, and you can practically feel the boredom of the clerk who had to open them originally.

I couldn't help but compare the vibe here to the chaotic energy you find in films like How I Became Krazy. It’s that same feeling of "who actually wrote this, and were they okay?"

Some of the letters are so bad they loop back around to being poetic. I don't know how else to describe it. It’s like listening to a 1930s version of a Twitter meltdown, but on paper and with much better handwriting.

Don't expect technical mastery here. It’s rough, it’s low-budget, and it feels like it was filmed in a broom closet. But who cares? The content is just too strange to ignore.

• The sheer audacity of the letter writers.
• The way the camera just sits there, waiting for you to process the idiocy.
• That one letter about the missing shipment—my god, the logic is nonexistent.

I found myself pausing just to re-read some of the text on screen. It’s a bit like watching October (Ten Days that Shook the World) in terms of historical significance, except, you know, instead of a revolution, it’s just someone complaining about a faulty toaster. Or a hat. Or their own lack of basic spelling skills.

Sometimes the film feels like it’s trying a bit too hard to be funny, but then it hits you with a real zinger of a sentence, and you’re back in. It’s a weird experience. Probably not one I’ll revisit, but I’m weirdly happy it exists. 🤷‍♂️