Customer Reviews

The Basketball Diaries [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Director Scott Kalvert creates a moving and realistic recount of the true story of Jim Carroll, played superbly by Leonardo DiCaprio, a New York City teen who at the height of his high school basketball career, falls victim to drugs and violence in the rough streets.

Look for the real-life Jim Carroll who makes a cameo appearance as a crack addict in the scene where young Jim sitting in a back alley listening to the addict preach about his "high" while boiling his fix.

Fine supporting performances by the entire cast and a musical score including original songs performed by Jim Carroll's band. Especially memorable is the acid-rock message song: "These Are All the People Who've Died" which is a tribute to Jim's fallen friends throughout his life.

The serious messages in this film SCREAM out at teens, but also are sombering to adults who realize the sometimes hopeless devastation that wracks a family during a drug crisis. Your heart breaks for Jim's mom and his mentor, an African American ex-druggie who cleaned up and wants nothing more than to help Jim out of his living hell before it consumes him.

This movie is amazing, the talented Mr. Dicaprio really gave an outstanding performance

"The Basketball Diaries" is a gritty, uncompromising look at a basically good guy's decent into heroin hell. The cast, headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, is superb; the screenplay doesn't pull any punches. Realistic, shocking, eye-opening, the film gives DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg the chance to display their true talents and really ACT -- these fellows do a terrific job because it all looks so REAL. What a great film with an ending I guarantee you won't expect -- connoisseurs of fine films and DiCaprio fans should check it out -- this is a real movie with a real script and real acting, and the characters and storyline aren't larger than life. They're real as life, and that's not something you see on TV every day. END

This movie was gripping from the start to finish. I loved how it opened- a bunch of kids who obviously have minds of their own- getting high off of some household cleaner or something, skipping school, ripping off hot dog carts.. and you think this all seems crazy but then ultimately all the hard core drug usage starts and while at first it may seem like nothing but a small enjoyable thing to do- it soon is a huge habit for Jim.

Watching all the struggles Jim has to go through- loosing friends, trying to be clean & then failing, prostitution, begging for money, getting into physical fights.. - it is hard to watch and you physically can't believe that someone can go through so much and come out victorious in the end.

Leonardo plays this role FANTASTICALLY. Especially the part when he is crying at the door begging for some money from his mother. The amount of passion he pours into this character is huge... for that reason alone- go see this movie.

Before Trainspotting their was The Basketball Diaries and a brilliant film it is too. This is a great production from Scott Kalvert.It is the harrowing story of how a young basketball hopeful named Jim Carrol, whos life is descending into a life of drugs and violence.In which the only thing that keeps him going is his diary which is later named The Basketball Diaries.The acting in this film is brilliant.An absoloutely brilliant film it has no flaws.Every aspect of this film is great.A true masterpeice.

I must admit this movie really had a huge effect on me. After watching this, I thought to myself, "How could anyone do drugs like this?" The look of this film matches the tone of it, which is a dark, gritty feel of the streets of Brooklyn during the 1960's.

This movie basically takes a real life teenager and throws him down the wrong paths in life. You can really see Leonardo DiCaprio's character grow more and more addicted to all these drugs. Physically, you can see his body become worse and worse as he becomes more plugged into the drug culture as nights go by.

I have a whole new appreciation for Leo DiCaprio. He was only 20 years old when this was made and you can tell, this young kid can act like a pro.

This film as a very indy-film look to it which seems to add to its realism unlike if it were a major Hollywood motion picture. So, if you want to see an emotional, tearjerking view of innocence crumbling into nothing, this one will suck you in.

Jim Carroll's autobiographical life story is the basis for this cult classic of the early 90's. Leonardio DiCaprio plays Jim Carroll a poet writing basketball star at a Catholic prep school in Manhatten who's future comes tumbling down when he gets addicted from glue sniffing to heroin. Mark Wahlberg co stars as Mickey his partner in crime as they skip school and do drugs, Jim realizes his future of becoming a pro basketball player are gone when he sees a local kid that he used to run with that decided to stay clean makes it to college ball. Eventually his mother kicks him out and he is saved by a black preacher an ex drug user from the streets takes him in. A powerful story about addiction and the negative affects it has on one's dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance was amazing & makes you wonder how accurate it was of Carroll. The soundtrack also is amazing, essential to collection & a must see film.

This gripping story about mixed up teenage basketball star Jim Carroll shows Leonardo Dicaprio at his cinematic best. With friends Mickey, Pedro and Neutron Jim swaggers around New York city like he owns the place. Their lives revolve around basketball and drugs and in the end it catches up with them all, leaving the penniless junkies battling to survive on New York's mean streets.

This movie is so amazing. I should have bought it sooner! Seeing as how now I can't get it because someone related a less than 5 minute long scene to the Colombine High School shooting. Give me a break! I have viewed that scene along with with the whole movie hundreds of times and have yet to kill innocents. People are a little too idiotic sometimes. Everyone should have a chance to buy this movie if they want to! I will search hard to find it!

Jim Carroll is a basketball star. He and his gang of friends get into gang fights and steal things in their spare time. When Jim gets involved in drugs, his life slowly start to deteriorate. More and more problems arise as he continues to get fixated and goes to more horrific and depressing extremes in order to get his next fix. The film details his descent from basketball star to full-fledged junkie. Based on the diaries by writer Jim Carroll, the film was in the making for several years before finally being released to mixed reviews in the mid-90s. Being a big fan of the book, I watched this film. This is what I think of it.

This film could have been great. Indeed, it isn't terrible. There is a lot to admire about this piece of work. For starters, Leonardo DiCaprio's performance. He displays a strong range of talent reminiscent of James Dean. His performance is definitely very memorable and extremely realistic. The soundtrack to the film is also quite top-notch and truly lends itself to the angry tone of the film. I also appreciated much of the early scenes in the film and I found many of them to have a true sense of gritty realism as well as a type of ironic detachment that you really don't see too often these days. Juliette Lewis, despite her role being very brief, does an excellent job as well and, had she gotten more to do, could have really been remembered for her role. The film also gets the look of the dank, dark, grimy streets of New York down pitch-perfect. You can really get a true feel for the atmosphere and the scum that pervades the life of Jim and of his friends. You really get a sense of the filmmaker almost being a witness to the type of depraved behavior depicted in the film.

Unfortunately, the flaws outweigh the positives in this film. One of my biggest complaints has to do with the terrible decision to change the time of the story from the 80s to the mid-90s. If there were any time period this film should have been set in it should have been the 80s. The film's soundtrack consists mostly of 80s music. The idea of 80s excess was a big part of the original book and almost lent itself to a kind of realism nearly on par with Less than Zero(the novel) in terms of it's graphic depiction from a boy whose love of life and of writing was corrupted by drug addiction and peer pressure. Unfortunately, the shift from the 80s to the mid-90s not only destroys any chance of any of those themes being explored, but also turns the film into nothing more than a mid-90s cautionary drug tale. The problems with the film, unfortunately, don't even end there. Mark Wahlberg and Ernie Hudson are known for some tremendous work in the past, but their performances in this film have to be some of their worst work ever! Mark Wahlberg is painfully one-dimensional and he manages to not even be able to do THAT right! His performance comes off completely too over-the-top and forced to the point where you cringe at his line delivery! This was before Boogie Nights, so at least he has an excuse, but what was Ernie Hudson thinking??? His character comes off as the stereotypical would-be hero who has been through it all and has made something of himself. It comes off completely fake and simply too cartoonish in nature. He was very miscast in the role and he is ultimately what takes the film down even further. My absolute worst complaint, however, has to do with one particular scene. While I cannot say what goes on in this scene, I will say that the way the filmmakers depicted it was far too over-the-top and extreme in it's nature. It's one of the most notorious scenes in the film, so I'm sure you've heard of it, the infamous "bathroom stall scene". Yeah, the way it is handled in the film is completely gratuitous and absolutely disgusting. It is the sole reason why I refuse to outright recommend this film. Many folks will likely attack me and say "Oh, well that's how it really happens" or "Oh, well you've never experienced what that Jim guy experienced so you don't know what you're talking about". Well, perhaps that's true. Perhaps I have never been a prostitute, nor have I been a drug addict. However, that does not make the scene less graphic and explicit than it needed to be. It's an absolutely disgusting and far too grotesque scene that was completely uncalled for.

As it stands, I can still appreciate the film because it does some things right. I did like the moments of humor and the little scenes that ring true about growing up and being admired by your peers. However, if you have read the book you will be seriously disappointed. The film was a bit too flawed for me to really enjoy or be intrigued by. It's a well-made film in a lot of ways, but I cannot recommend the film to fans of the book. If you are a fan of the book, you will hate this film. If you've never read it, check it out. You might like it.