We’ve all had awkward moments at work. Maybe you’ve sent an email to the wrong person, said something you immediately regretted, or watched a perfectly ordinary meeting take a turn for the worse. In The Company Card, canadian director Myles Hodder takes that familiar workplace tension and lets it spiral into something wonderfully ridiculous.
The five-minute comedy follows Terry (Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll), a corporate executive who discovers a suspicious personal expense on the company credit card. His prime suspect is Sandra (Laura Ramoso), whose tiger face paint and Little Miss County Fair T-shirt seem like pretty damning evidence. Terry just wants an explanation before heading off for the long weekend. Sandra, however, has other plans.
When the Professional Mask Slips
What follows is a glorious clash between Terry’s awkward attempts at authority and Sandra’s increasingly furious response. Ramoso brings plenty of fire to the role, while Fernandez-Stoll plays the sort of manager who seems completely unequipped for an actual human interaction. Tommy Marshall rounds out the cast as Ron, adding another familiar face to this office-sized disaster.
Hodder originally conceived the idea as a short bit for his commercial reel. But while editing, he realized there was a bigger story hiding in the setup. The result is a sharp little satire about the professional masks we wear and what happens when they slip. As Hodder has explained, even the most ordinary office meeting can conceal a private agenda or two.
Comedy Is All in the Timing
The performances are a big part of the fun. Ramoso’s physical comedy, the costume choices, and the carefully timed reveals turn a simple accusation into an escalating exercise in second-hand embarrassment. Hodder also keeps the visual approach relatively restrained, letting the actors and the edit do the heavy lifting.
The gamble paid off. The Company Card won the Audience Choice Award at the 50/50 Comedy Festival in West Hollywood before making its Canadian premiere at Montreal’s Fantasia Festival.
Five minutes, one questionable expense, and a meeting nobody will forget. If you’ve ever wondered how quickly workplace professionalism can fall apart, this one might hit a little too close to home.
