Knocked Up

“”Knocked Up”” is writer/director Judd Apatow’s second feature-length movie, and like his first film, “”The 40-Year-Old Virgin,”” it cleverly balances raunchy comedy with a more sentimental story.

Jobless twenty-something Ben, played by Seth Rogen (in his first lead role), winds up having a drunken one-night stand with Allison,

played by Katherine Heigl (“”Grey’s Anatomy””). Allison ends up pregnant after skipping out on the whole condom thing with Ben. The two start seeing each other and decide to have the child – only problem is they have no clue what they’re doing.

The only negative aspect of the film is that the characters, however down-to-earth they may be, have jobs the audience can’t relate to: Ben intends to start an Internet porn site, and Allison is an entertainment correspondent for E! Television.

Although “”Knocked Up”” pushes the limits of an R-rated comedy, it keeps in perspective the seriousness of the subject matter. The movie is a positive message littered with brutally blunt gross-out humor, and when it comes down to it, is probably the most effective after-school special ever made. If you haven’t already seen it, this movie is worth catching in theaters.

– Andrew Austin

It Won’t Be Soon Before Long

Maroon 5 is Adam Levine. Regardless of how talented the other band members might be, the group wouldn’t succeed without Levine’s sexy, nasally tenor voice dominating each song. It Won’t Be Soon Before Long isn’t the perfect pop album – the ballads fall short of making any teenage girl swoon. “”Nothing Lasts Forever”” is the highlight of the album’s slow songs; it features Levine singing the same chorus highlighted on the Kanye West track “”Heard ‘Em Say”” from West’s album Late Registration.

The upbeat tracks are what make the album thrive. “”Makes Me Wonder,”” the first single from the div class=””infobox””>

Maroon 5A&M/Octone Records
3 1/2 stars

album, throbs with explicit goodness. “”Wake Up Call”” makes all the other tracks pale in comparison, especially when Levine croons in the chorus “”Wake up call / Caught you in the morning with another one in my bed.”” Although the album lacks direction, as each song seems to pull influences from a different genre, it is Levine’s masculinity that drives the album forward and makes for a pleasurable listening experience.

– Jamie Ross

Flight

Sherman Alexie has long established himself as a master of mixing humor with sorrow in equal amounts. His latest novel, “”Flight,”” explores such topics as betrayal, abuse and murder through the eyes of a cheeky half-Irish, half-Indian teenager who introduces himself as “”Zits,”” and then counts and names his pimple constellations.

“”Flight”” begins with Zits running away from his 20th foster home and spending a short time in jail. There he meets a boy called Justice who gives Zits a little knowledge, a lot of div class=””infobox””>

Sherman Alede
Grove Press
4 stars

anger and a gun. Shortly after, Zits shoots several people in a bank, is shot himself and then wakes up in a new body.

So starts a five-stop time-traveling journey for Zits. Each body that he wakes up in is linked by a violent need for revenge or forgiveness.

Alexie’s novel is striking in the empathy it evokes for a range of historical figures by placing this mocking but charming 15-year-old behind their eyes. If you have ever wondered what goes on inside the heads of killers and bad guys, Zits has all the answers, which he delivers in such an amiable and comic way that you will find it hard to return to your own body after reading.

– Astrid Duffy