I think The Sessions could have been a really good film without Helen Hunt. It is an interesting and occasionally moving story, the dialog was pretty decent, and the story was well-told, with good structuring and good pacing. John Hawkes is emerging as an amazing actor, and I am glad that he is now able to finally transcend all those “Teardrop” roles he was stuck playing. I’m not one to admire flashy Rain Man-type roles, but Hawkes really impressed me with the understated sensitivity he brought to his character. And William H. Macy is, as usual, warm and winning in a small but important role.

It’s Helen Hunt that drags this movie down. Her acting is distractingly self-conscious, she has extremely limited emotional range, she has extremely limited vocal and facial expressiveness, and she’s ice-cold on screen. It tells you a lot about John Hawkes’ formidable warmth and acting skill that he was able to prop up a dead weight like Helen Hunt to the degree that he did. But in the end, it was not enough. This story was all about the connection between these two people, and Helen Hunt just killed that aspect of the film before it could even get started. To see the magnitude of her failure, all you have to do is consider the palpable emotional connection between Hawkes and the two much more minor love interests in the story (played by Annika Marks and Robin Weigert.) Somehow these actresses were able to match Hawkes and generate some really lovely and memorable moments, despite the fact that they had almost no scenes and almost no dialog. I can’t even bear to think how good this film might have been with a really warm and talented actress (like Elizabeth Shue, Vera Farmiga or Robin Wright, perhaps) in the lead role.

I should point out that the film is still fairly enjoyable despite Helen Hunt. I actually liked it more than my wife did. But her presence definitely put a ceiling on its potential, and in the end you really feel it.