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The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries (1995)

April. 21,1995
|
7.3
|
R
| Drama Crime

A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.

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Reviews

SpuffyWeb
1995/04/21

Sadly Over-hyped

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Pluskylang
1995/04/22

Great Film overall

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ThedevilChoose
1995/04/23

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

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Fleur
1995/04/24

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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SnoopyStyle
1995/04/25

Catholic schoolboy Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives with his mother (Lorraine Bracco). He's the brash leader of his friends Pedro (James Madio), Neutron (Patrick McGaw) and Mickey (Mark Wahlberg) sniffing glue and causing trouble. They play winning basketball for their lecherous coach Swifty (Bruno Kirby). His best friend Bobby (Michael Imperioli) is dying of leukemia. He plays neighborhood ball with Reggie (Ernie Hudson). He starts to do cocaine and then heroin which sends him down a very dark road.The movie seems to take place in both the present day and somewhere in the 60s. That conflicted feel along with the poetic diary entries create a surreal dreamlike vibe. It takes the tension out of the movie and limits the immediacy. Leo and everybody do a good job. Leo's star power shines and keeps the movie interesting. However, I just don't feel a sense of danger from this dark coming-of-age movie.

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juneebuggy
1995/04/26

Not a perfect movie and I'm not sure how faithful it is to poet (Jim Carroll's) memoirs but worth watching for the remarkable performance from Leonardo DiCaprio. Just wow, absolutely raw and heart wrenching especially at the height of his addiction. I'd also forgotten that Mark Wahlberg is in this (very young Marky-Mark days) and also Juliette Lewis.The entire movie is very dark and inconsistent in its storytelling but filled with excellent performances; following Carroll (DiCaprio) as a 1960's teen, his star basketball days and subsequent spiral into heroin addiction along with a few of his school buddies. Crime, homelessness, prostitution and chaos ensue. 02.01.14 Quotes: "First, it's a Saturday night thing when you feel cool like a gangster or a rockstar -just something to kill the boredom, you know? They call it a chippie, a small habit. It feels so good, you start doing it on Tuesdays... then Thursdays... then it's got you. Every wise ass punk on the block says it won't happen to them, but it does."

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Sarah Mueller
1995/04/27

This film isn't for everyone, you either hate it or love it. It sometimes lacks that constant up-beat easy to watch feel that certain types of audiences need to enjoy a film and is replaced with brutal honesty.The performances from all of the actors were outstanding, with Leonardo DiCaprio performing some of the best acting I have ever seen. His portrayal of Jim was so real and raw that he gave so much of himself to the role that it began to look effortless. So many scenes in this movie were beautifully done. A few stand out moments to name: The basketball scene in the rain, every confrontation between Jim and his mother, and the Withdrawal scene where once again Leo gives a spine tingling performance. If you want to enjoy The Basketball diaries you must go into it with an open mind and take the film for what it is. It isn't a fancy, modern, stylized, glamorized film about drugs but rather an honest, raw, bold and touching movie about the self-destruction of a boy who falls head first into the harrowing world of drug addiction. This movie for me is an overlooked, underrated piece of art. Which is why I love it. I wouldn't change one thing about it.

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dan wade
1995/04/28

I watched this film recently with my girlfriend and several friends having not seen it since around the time when it first came out. I remember at the time thinking how powerful a performance Leonardo Dicaprio gave of Jim Carrol's real life character. The performance was so good I remember at the time telling friends who had recently seen Titanic, that they will be shocked by this performance as it proved he is one of the most versatile actors in cinema today and then. Over the years I have told people I have met, you need to see this movie but not many have and it seems to have sneaked under the radar a little. Therefore when It was on television recently I made everyone watch this film. Everyone who did came back to me saying the same thing, 'wasn't leo good in it'!! The scenes involving Carrol begging his mother to let him into the apartment so he can ask for money to help feed his drug habit are shockingly powerful.Its an amazing portrayal of the dangers of drug addiction and how it can effect young people who dabble with the dangers so quickly, turning their lives on its head with out them realising how it even happened. some strong messages in this film that many teenagers need to watch.Having watched it again some years later, It has dated slightly in time but not only Leo is outstanding but Mark Whalberg shows that he too was showing potential back then 15 years ago or so. I have never been too sure of Whalberg in the past sometimes mixing natural acting ability in movies such as 'the fighter' or his interesting performance of the character police detective 'dignam' in the departed with shocking performances such as 'the happening or Planet of the Apes (where to be honest I don't blame him but the directors for poor casting). But Wharlberg in this movie shows genuine class, perhaps portraying a young man who had an adolecence pretty similar to his diaries character 'mickey'.on a whole the film is a class act and hidden gem. A must see.

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