84 Charing Cross Road (2002)

Pre-cannibalistic hamming and $20 million paydays, Anthony Hopkins was a jobbing character thesp and the '80s saw Hannibal gnawing on lean meat: average-to-ace TV work and cinematic yawns like this adaptation of Helene Hanff's novel. He's a bookseller in '50s London sought out by Anne Bancroft's irascible Yank bibliophile to find rare literature. By letter. Rough action précis: She writes to him. He writes back. She writes to him. He writes back. She writes to him... It's You've Got Mail on Mogadon. Hopkins offers his usual turmoil-behind-the-eyes schtick, but this snooze's only other virtue is effectively showing just how dreary postwar London was.

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