Michael Dalmer (Michael Molina), a gay insurance investigator, investigates the disappearance of his photographer gay twin brother, Kyle (Molina) —with a little help from lesbian private investigator Abigail Marks (Jessica Graham) —in 2 Minutes Later. Robert Gaston’s movie has the production values of a pilot for a Logo series, which means it’s slick and easy to watch but unlikely to win any awards.
The title refers both to how soon you’ll forget the movie after watching it and the age difference between the twins. Kyle is older and always flaunted his superiority until the brothers pretty much stopped communicating. Although Michael has the grievances (Kyle stole his boyfriend) it’s Kyle who chose to avoid closeness with his twin.
We see what happened to Kyle in a pre-title sequence. He drops off a model/trick, ‘Tevin with a T’ (Joe Almanza), after a session and is confronted by a man (Peter Stickles) with a gun who tells him, ‘You see too much.’ Kyle is shot in the ensuing chase and manages to drop the memory card from his camera in a mailbox before reaching an inconclusive conclusion.
Michael, in Philadelphia for another case, stops to visit his brother. He’s mistaken for Kyle, who he realizes no one has seen in two weeks. Soon Abby shows up, having been hired by Kyle’s manager to look for him. They team up and follow clues, including the photos Kyle mailed to himself, engaging in banter that’s lighthearted but never funny.
The trail leads to New Milford—and several hot models. Both investigators find more flirtations—who knew lesbians have more sex in public restrooms than Larry Craig?—than facts along the way. The killer is on their trail before they’re on his, and even after he shoots at them they break into his apartment to look for clues instead of calling the police.
Although one of the main characters is a lesbian, 2 Minutes Later is obviously designed more with gay men in mind. The film’s centerpieces are flashback montages to Kyle’s photo sessions, with copious frontal nudity. (The DVD includes additional photos.)
Although the technical work is proficient, the writing, direction and acting are all subpar. Better work in any of those areas might have raised 2 Minutes Later to the next level. It’s not painfully bad—just a decent time-waster you can watch and forget two minutes later.