One of the most polarizing movie stars working today, Angelina Jolie seems to provoke strong reactions, some of them downright hostile. Oh, I get it, I really do. I mean -- just look at her! That face, that body, that Brad, those kids, that career; it's all too much. Add general outspokenness and some downright odd behavior -- though not lately -- and we have someone who pushes buttons (including a big one marked "envy"), to say the least.

But are we being fair? This is someone who has probably done more for humanitarian causes than any other Hollywood figure under the age of 40 (including, via the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a recent donation of $1 million to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, for post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti). With her latest film, 'Salt,' in which she plays a CIA operative accused of being a Russian assassin, hitting theaters Friday, we take the opportunity to investigate her alleged sins.

Sin #1: She's a homewrecker
Jolie has often been criticized for "stealing" Brad Pitt, then married to Jennifer Aniston, when the two worked together on 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' While she does acknowledge that they fell in love on the set of that 2005 movie, she has also denied accusations that they consummated their relationship then: "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife."

Honestly, can we ever know exactly what went on in any relationship other than our own? (The first paparazzi photos of Brad and Angie surfaced a month after Aniston filed for divorce.) Also, in typical double-standard fashion, Brad doesn't get as much flack for this. Hey, doesn't it take two to tango?


Sin #2: She's a child collector/exploiter
In addition to three biological children (Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne), Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children: Maddox (from Cambodia), Pax (Vietnam), and Zahara (Ethiopia). Complaints: 1) Why can't she adopt American children? and 2) How can a successful actress be a good mother, especially to so many kids?

As a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2001, Jolie has visited and worked in places where children are often abandoned or orphaned. The poverty in these countries is generally way more extreme than in the U.S., where we do have a welfare system that -- for the most part -- works. The adopted kids all came from orphanages.

As for quality time with the kids, again, can we really judge? Most mothers have to work these days, and at least Jolie and Pitt have the money to afford good health care, education and basic necessities, unlike many parents who struggle to care for their children.

Jolie and Pitt were also criticized for selling the rights to the first images of their biological children. Rather than be hounded by paparazzi who were hellbent on taking these valuable pics, the couple sold the photos to People and Hello! magazines, then donated the money to charities including their own Jolie/Pitt Foundation (which has given grants to an AIDS clinic in Ethiopia and Make It Right, an organization devoted to rebuilding New Orleans, among other recipients). Win-win, no?


Sin #3: She's done some weird stuff
Oh sure, we can't forget Jolie's kiss with her brother James Haven at the 2000 Oscars, or the too-public displays of affection between her and Billy Bob Thornton when they were married, or the supposed vial of his blood (which wasn't actually a vial, but never mind) that she wore around her neck, or her -- I don't know -- vague Gothiness. A lot of it seems to have been the acting out of an unconventional young woman with a difficult -- and somewhat public -- family history (her troubled relationship with her father has been well-documented). As Jolie herself has said, "I am still at heart -- and always will be -- just a punk kid with tattoos." She's never been a conformist!

No, Jolie's always been a bit of a rebel, someone who speaks her mind without the benefit of constant "spin." Surprisingly, the actress does not have a personal publicist, almost unheard of for someone of her fame.

Sin #4: She's made bad/unsuccessful movies
Oh yes, movies. Actually, her score here is no worse than that of many stars. There was the critical and (domestic) box-office failure 'Alexander,' some forgettable fare ('Hell's Kitchen,' 'Original Sin,' 'Beyond Borders') and a few cartoonish but successful action flicks ('Gone in 60 Seconds,' 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'); but Jolie also impressed us in films such as 'Gia,' 'Girl, Interrupted' (for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) and, yep, 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith,' the last benefiting greatly from the leads' obvious chemistry.

Though 'A Mighty Heart' (2007), in which Jolie played the wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, was well-received, not many people saw it, owing possibly to its depressing subject matter. Perfectly cast in the visually stunning animated 'Beowulf,' she also injected some good-humored spirit into the entertaining action-thriller 'Wanted.' In 2009 she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a woman whose son is kidnapped in Clint Eastwood's 'Changeling.'

So, hate her if you must, but anyone who has met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 20 countries, founded of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, received the first Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association, was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA, and has given some memorable performances in several more-than-decent movies, can't be all that bad.