''The Landlord'' is a 2007 short comedy film starring

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...

, Pearl McKay, and featuring Adam McKay.

Plot

In the film, Ferrell's character is harassed by his

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...

for overdue rent money. The landlord is a two-year-old girl (played by McKay's daughter, Pearl) who dresses as a princess, swears at her tenant and is finally calmed by taking Will's beer.

Production

The film was directed by Adam McKay and Drew Antzis and written by Ferrell and McKay.

Release

The film premiered on April 17, 2007 on Ferrell and McKay's video website,

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

. Since its debut, the video has been viewed more than 80 million times, and is a "Chosen One" meaning it was never rated by Funny or Die members. Shortly after, a short film featuring outtakes from the movie premiered.

Reception

In 2007 the Guy's Choice Awards, presented by

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was o ...

, voted ''The Landlord'' "Most Viral Video." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "The only thing funnier than a foulmouthed 2-year-old? A foulmouthed 2-year-old named Pearl berating Will Ferrell on FunnyOrDie.com."

''Good Cop, Baby Cop''

In June 2007, Pearl McKay and Will Ferrell reunited for ''Good Cop, Baby Cop'' in which McKay plays a tough

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

who forces Ferrell to sign a confession and smacks Ferrell in the face with a phone and a phone book. This was announced to be Pearl McKay's final performance.

In popular culture

In 2014's '' Boyhood'', Mason (

Ellar Coltrane Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon (born August 27, 1994) is an American actor. They are best known for their role as Mason Evans Jr. in Richard Linklater's film '' Boyhood'', for which they won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer ...

), is seen watching the clip on the Funny or Die website in 2007, when the clip came out. A brief clip of the video can be seen in ''

The Big Short ''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' is a nonfiction book by Michael Lewis about the build-up of the United States housing bubble during the 2000s. It was released on March 15, 2010, by W. W. Norton & Company. It spent 28 weeks on '' ...

'', also directed by McKay.

References

External links

''The Landlord''
at Funny or Die
''Good Cop, Baby Cop''
at Funny or Die {{DEFAULTSORT:Landlord, The 2007 films 2007 comedy films 2007 short films Films directed by Adam McKay Funny or Die Films about landlords 2000s English-language films