'Salt' (PG-13) (0ut of four)

Angelina Jolie is the luckiest woman in the world, really. She has Hollywood's hottest husband, adorable children, her humanitarian efforts, and a new movie that's bound to be a hit because she's a box-office draw. Her luck surpasses even the tangible, however.

Had her new movie "Salt" been released any earlier, the Russian spy plot would be old and tired, and something James Bond tackled more than a few times in the 1960s. But, lady luck follows Jolie wherever she goes. While Jolie was starting to make her rounds to promote her new movie at the end of June, 11 alleged Russian spies were arrested in the United States. Yes, it's good to be Jolie. Unfortunately, the movie isn't so good.

The espionage thriller was originally to have starred Tom Cruise, but when he decided to pass on the part, Jolie stepped in. Her character Evelyn Salt, was named Edwin Salt, but probably not much else would have been different.

There are plenty of stunts, car wrecks, a body count barrage, guns, grenades, and implausible situations. At one point, Jolie even gets to do a gender switch posing as a male NATO guard, wearing some heavy prosthetics to make her look like a gentleman, so she can infiltrate the White House. (Remember Cruise peeling of his face in "Mission Impossible II?" See? The two stars are interchangeable.)

The getup is hardly believable. If it's that easy to fool security at the White House, it's no wonder gatecrashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi were able to breeze into President Barack Obama's first state dinner unnoticed.

It's just one of many hard-to-believe scenarios that crop up throughout the over-baked 99-minute film about Salt, a CIA operative, accused of being a sleeper spy for Russia. Is she or isn't she? As her world crumbles around her, we're led to believe that she has set out to prove her innocence. Yet with no one to defend her motives, she appears guiltier at every turn.

Jolie is one of the few women in films today who is a bonafide action star. Worth her salt, she tries with all of her might to bring moviegoers along for the ride. Yet, despite her efforts, the film never hits rollercoaster speeds.

The slow drag starts when defector Vassily Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) delivers a rambling story that is supposed to fill in gaps, but sounds more like a history lesson. At the end of the diatribe, Salt comments on his tale. "You're killing me," she says. The audience couldn't agree more.

The low key continues with the monotone Liev Schreiber in the co-starring role as Salt's only supporter. The actor conjures his usual moodiness that we've already seen more than a few times in "X Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Repo Man."

To add to the muddy waters is Jolie's high glamour profile. In the opening scene, when Salt is being released from a North Korean prison camp, despite her face being bloodied and bruised, costumers have dressed her in fashionable pants and a white linen shirt. In another scene, a hat stand with a selection of Russian fur Cossacks is in the middle of Manhattan, precisely on her path to a waiting ferry.

They should've thrown in a pair of Nikes for Jolie to wear, as her character covers more ground running through the streets of Washington, D.C., than Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt.

The fact that "Salt" takes itself so seriously makes it all the more unbelievable. Sweep away all of the formulaic dust from "Salt," and the fix for the sequel (the end of the film leaves no doubt it's already in the works) is fairly simple: "Salt" needs more spice.