But for the grace of god (and a mother who pounded the value of an education into our heads), there go I. Eden Court is the story of a man turning 30. It’s supposed to be the story of lost dreams and coming to grips with being just like the rest of us 999,999 out of a million people who realize that while dreams are great to have, life goes on after your dream is shattered. You move on, get new dreams (or not) and sometimes figure out how to integrate your old dreams with your current life.

Shroeder, the main character of the film, can’t get past his glory days. He’s turning 30 and realizes that he’s done nothing with his life, well, nothing new anyway. Sure, he’s married the prom queen (who has somehow managed to stay extremely hot even though she lives in a trailer, has no job, drinks all day with her alcoholic friend and wants to get pregnant). But his life is full of nothing but watching old baseball videos, going to a menial, dead-end job, ignoring his wife, and not saying anything accept how stupid everyone is. But what he really thinks is how stupid he is to stay in this life that he hates. So, he finds the most ludicrous solution to his life: move to Australia, buy some cheap land and start over. And he plans to do all this on his 30th birthday without telling anyone and leaving his wife behind.

That’s where the trouble starts. His wife, who is clearly lacking a semblance of a brain, has been making plans to make his birthday memorable. The miscommunication throughout this movie is amazingly consistent and fairly contrived. While parts are genuinely funny (like the whole “promotional hot-dog running the bases” fiasco which ends with Shroeder getting tackled by his best friend before he can win), a good portion of the film makes you want to shake the characters and tell them to get a grip. It also makes you ask yourself, where are the grown-ups?

But the least believable part was the ending, where not only does Shroeder learn that life is worth more when you have people you love to share it with, but when his brain-dead wife, who was all prepared to leave him, suddenly pulls a surprise party out of her ass.

If you suspend your disbelief at the door, the movie is a fairly amusing ride into the lives of trailer-trash at its flattest level. Fun while in-the-moment, but questionable if you think too much about it, Eden Court gets 4 silver rings (out of five possible gold. But hey, at least it isn’t one copper ring).