KISSING JESSICA STEIN (15, 96 mins) Starring Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen.

IF Woody Allen were ever to make a film about lesbians, it would probably be very much like Kissing Jessica Stein.

This low-key, diverting romantic comedy is a talk piece that brings Allen's wittiest explorations of sex and relationships to mind.

Jessica Stein (Westfeldt) and Helen Cooper (Juergensen) are attractive, successful twentysomethings who seem to have everything going for them, apart from one thing romance.

While both have had many relationships, neither has found total satisfaction with one man.

So, quite separately, they decide to broaden their horizons, and wonder what it would be like to embark on a spiritual and physical relationship with another woman.

So the more extrovert Helen places a newspaper ad, to which Jessica offers the most promising reply.

They meet and tentatively consider life as lesbians, leading at first to friendship, then affection, before sex is very much on the agenda.

This film steers well clear of becoming a broad sex comedy, thanks to an intelligent and light script co-written by the two leads.

While never really taking any risks, the duo manage to cover most of the obstacles placed in the way of two young women on the verge of coming out. And in doing so, offer the possibility that they may never have been "in" in the first place to make it necessary to come "out".

Both actresses are appealing and interesting, with Westfeldt, as the more neurotic Jessica, getting the meatier title role that sees her trying to hide the identity the new "someone special in her life" from her workmates, and from her very Jewish family.

A good example of how to take sexuality seriously, and have a laugh at the same time.

Rating: 7 out of 10