A supporting cast consisting of Tom Skerrit, Tom Bower, Joanna Cassidy, Kris Kristofferson, Frankie Faison, and Rachel Nichols made For Sale By Owner appear to be very promising indeed, and each of these stars put in decent performances albeit all fairly small in this low budget flick. Unfortunately, from the start, Scott Cooper's abominable acting and scripting proved nothing could salvage this debacle.
The Ronoake legend is one that has received a fair amount of play the past few years in films and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the 16th Century British colony is the backdrop once again here in this discombobulated tale. Father to be, Will Custis (Cooper) decides to purchase a dilapidated old Virginian home to partake in some historic renovation. When he discovers an old antique cross and a strange mural painted on the wall in the basement, things get a bit quirky. His wife (Nichols) doesn't dig the house and wants to call it quits and his father in law (Skerrit) wants to steal the credit for what could be an historic archaeological discovery. Top it off with ghosts apparently running around.
The film travels in a multitude of directions that lead nowhere and concludes with an absolutely ridiculous ending all in an effort to tie up all the loose strings. It's bad. However, it would not have been so lousy had it not been for Cooper who portrays a character so obnoxiously uninteresting I almost gave into the taboo temptation of hitting the stop button.
Anna? Anna? Anna?
