Loudon Wainwright III

If Knocked Up, the spinoff from Steve Carell's wildly successful 40 Year Old Virgin, follows the same type of script and joke template as 40, I'm willing to bet this will be one of the most popular movie scores of the year. It is doubtful the moviemakers could have picked any musician more in tune with the tragicomic oddness of modern relationships than Mr. Oddity himself, the pesky, eccentric, yet insouciant Loudon Wainwright III. Working with producer Joe Henry and guitar maestro Richard Thompson, Wainwright has written some quite touching yet telling vignettes that equal any work he's ever done. The flick stars Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy) as a sexy on-the-rise career woman who goes one drink too far with slacker Seth Rogen one night. Songs like “X and Y,” “Lullaby,” “Daughter” and “Final Frontier” should make a perfect backdrop as Heigl and Rogen move from one-night-stand strangers to a tenuous trial-and-error commitment. Wainwright is the master of quirky ennui, and this suite of songs should augment the comedy and curious circumstances the movie hangs on.