Editing Helen Hunt (section)

===2000s===
Two of Hunt's four film releases in 2000—the comedy ''[[Dr. T & the Women]]'' and the drama ''[[Pay It Forward (film)|Pay It Forward]]''—were both released in October. While the first featured her as one of the women that encompass the everyday life of a wealthy gynecologist, opposite [[Richard Gere]], the second starred her as the love interest of a physically and emotionally scarred grade school teacher, played by [[Kevin Spacey]]. Critic [[Roger Ebert]] highlighted her performance in ''Pay It Forward'', despite finding the film itself to be "too emotionally manipulative".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pay_it_forward/|title=Pay It Forward|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=February 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129071703/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pay_it_forward/|archive-date=November 29, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Her other two 2000 films—the romantic comedy ''[[What Women Want]]'', and the drama ''[[Cast Away]]''— were released in December, to outstanding box office receipts. In ''What Women Want'', Hunt starred with [[Mel Gibson]] as the co-worker and love interest of a Chicago executive, and in ''Cast Away'', she portrayed the long-term girlfriend of a [[FedEx]] employee marooned on an uninhabited island, alongside [[Tom Hanks]].

Hunt starred in [[Woody Allen]]'s ''[[The Curse of the Jade Scorpion]]'' (2001), as an efficiency expert hypnotized by a crooked hypnotist into stealing jewels. Despite the film's limited success, Roger Ebert asserted: "Hunt in particular has fun with a wisecracking dame role that owes something, perhaps, to [[Rosalind Russell]] in ''[[His Girl Friday]]''."<ref>{{cite web|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link1=Roger Ebert|title=The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-curse-of-the-jade-scorpion-2001|website=Roger Ebert.com|date=August 24, 2001|access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612163312/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-curse-of-the-jade-scorpion-2001|archive-date=June 12, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2003, Hunt returned to Broadway in [[Yasmina Reza]]'s ''[[Life x 3]]'',<ref name="ibdb" /> and in 2004, she starred in the drama ''[[A Good Woman (film)|A Good Woman]]'', as a [[femme fatale]] in 1930s NYC. ''AV Club'', in its review for the latter, remarked: "Helen Hunt looks embarrassingly out of place trying to play an infamous seductress".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/a-good-woman-1798201400|title=A Good Woman|website=[[The A.V. Club]] |date=February 2006 |access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411232051/https://film.avclub.com/a-good-woman-1798201400|archive-date=April 11, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> She played a socialite, as part of an ensemble cast, in [[Emilio Estevez]]'s drama ''[[Bobby (2006 film)|Bobby]]'' (2006), about the hours leading up to the [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy assassination]]. As a member of the cast, she was nominated for the [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture]] but won the [[Hollywood Film Festival|Hollywood Film Festival Award]] for Best Ensemble Cast.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/13th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards|title=The 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Screen Actors Guild Awards|website=Sagawards.org|access-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121204191422/http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/13th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards|archive-date=December 4, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hunt made her feature film directorial debut in ''[[Then She Found Me]]'' (2007), in which she also starred as a 39-year-old Brooklyn elementary school teacher, who after years is contacted by the flamboyant host of a local talk show, played by [[Bette Midler]], who introduces herself as her biological mother. After first reading [[Elinor Lipman]]'s novel, she tried to interest numerous studios in the material, and her unsuccessful efforts led her to begin writing the screenplay and raising funds to produce it herself. Upon its release, Ruthe Stein of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' observed, "You would think that frontloading ''Then She Found Me'' with so much plot would make it play like a [[soap opera]]. But Hunt saves the movie from this fate in two ways. First she turns in a touchingly real performance, the best of her big-screen career. Forget that ''[[As Good as It Gets]]'' won her an [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Oscar]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vivarelli |first=Nick |date=2023-12-11 |title=Dustin Hoffman, Helen Hunt to Star in Peter Greenaway's Tuscan Drama 'Lucca Mortis' |url=https://variety.com/2023/film/global/dustin-hoffman-helen-hunt-peter-greenaway-lucca-mortis-1235833126/ |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> She's eons better and more realistic in this one [...] By directing ''Then She Found Me'', Helen becomes its savior as well  [...] Hunt knows when to rein in the Divine Miss M instead of allowing her to go into full [[Kabuki]] mode. [She] also coaxes pitch-perfect performances from Broderick and Firth."<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/02/DDII10E0F3.DTL San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 2008: ''Then She Found Me''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504051957/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2008%2F05%2F02%2FDDII10E0F3.DTL |date=May 4, 2008 }} Retrieved February 27, 2013</ref>