The lack of nudity or big ew scenes in "Coming Soon" doesn't make it a superior film, any more than the generous sprinklings of both make "American Pie" a bad one. They're two very different stories that happen to focus on the same subject: adolescent sexuality. The former takes place at a posh Manhattan prep school and features Spalding Gray making Sarah Lawrence jokes; the latter is set at a less tony Midwestern establishment and has Jason Biggs getting caught furtively wanking to the scrambled signal of the porn channel. But it makes you wonder why one will no doubt attract an enormous teen audience this summer, while the other is currently languishing without distribution.

Ultimately, the two films arrive at the same conclusion -- that even now, in the information age, it's still different for girls. The heroines of "Coming Soon" either wait for partners to fulfill them or stumble upon satisfaction purely by accident; at one point a character scoffs at the notion of masturbation as "pathetic." In "American Pie," one overheated female exchange student stumbles on some dirty magazines and finds her fingers "going south," and another student confesses to creative uses for her musical instrument, but in both cases, the girls' adventures seem more like an excuse to titillate the boys than to do anything for themselves. The more central female characters -- the nice girls -- are noticeably more out of touch with their sexuality. The unfortunately under-used Natasha Lyonne (who managed to have a moment with a vibrator in "Slums of Beverly Hills" and avoid an NC-17) acts worldly, but never hooks up with anyone romantically. Heather (Meana Suvari) is a shy, virginal choir girl and Vicky (Tara Reid) is an "I'll do anything but"-type who's never "double clicked her own mouse" and won't go all the way with her boyfriend till he tells her he loves her.

But the surprise of "American Pie" is that it turns out to be not just another examination of good girls and the piggish boys who want to get into their pants. The male characters here actually evolve into something more than mere slaves to their priapism. With his roles in "Election" and now here as lacrosse star turned love-struck glee club singer Oz, Chris Klein is well on his way to becoming the most appealingly goofy new male star since Keanu Reeves whoa-ed his way through the "Bill and Ted" movies a decade ago. He plays a jock who says he wants to score, but secretly he longs to croon James Taylor covers and cuddle. Co-star Eddie Kaye Thomas deftly plays an uptight but suave terminal nerd whose route to deflowerment includes spreading wild lies about his penis size and ass-kicking prowess. And at the Phillip Rothian heart of the film is Jim (Jason Biggs), a porn-loving, shaft-stroking, pie-defiling walking id whose devotion to his urges is so pure and single-minded, you've got to admire the guy. As his trying desperately to be open-minded dad, Eugene Levy may be the first grownup in a teen sex comedy to supply his son with educational materials from the Larry Flynt empire. In other words, he's entertaining as only a refreshingly original character can be.

As the group's members go through their respective rites of passage, some blissfully, others with a few snags and technical difficulties, the guys begin to realize what adults know all too well -- that sex really isn't everything.

Judging from "Coming Soon" and "American Pie," we may still be a long way from accepting the possibility that girls might actually enjoy flying solo. But in the meantime there's something weirdly and humanely comforting about the films' converse messages -- that no matter what crazy, confusing, sometimes humiliating trials you have to go through to have it happen, sex is just one of those things that's plain better when you've got a partner. In the end, for all of "American Pie's" raunchy, "Porky's"-style voyeurism and body fluid humor, its heart turns out to be downright romantic. It might not put Sara Lee out of business, but it's encouraging to know she's still got competition.

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