The Basketball Diaries (film)

Plot

The film is an adaptation of poet and memoirist Jim Carrolls (Leonardo DiCaprio) juvenile diaries chronicling his kaleidoscopic free-fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jims life centers on the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach ("Swifty") who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an appetite for cocaine and heroin all begin to encroach on young Jims dream of becoming a basketball star.

Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mothers mounting concern for her son. He cannot go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim "picked up a game" now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity, which ultimately ends with Jims incarceration in Rikers Island. After months in prison, he leaves and later does a talk show about his drug life, after turning down free drugs from his old friend, Pedro.

The film is set in the early 1990s, while Carrolls actual book recounts experiences from growing up in the 1960s. Jim started out as a practice basketball player, and moved on to write The Basketball Diaries.

Cast

Reception

The film currently holds a 46% "Rotten" rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave two stars out of four, concluding, "At the end, Jim is seen going in through a "stage door," and then we hear him telling the story of his descent and recovery. We cant tell if this is supposed to be genuine testimony or a performance. Thats the problem with the whole movie." Many critics also praised Wahlbergs performance.

Lawsuits

After the 1997 Heath High School shooting, activist and disbarred lawyer Jack Thompson brought this film into a $33 million lawsuit in 1999 claiming that the films plot (along with two internet pornography sites, several computer game companies, and makers and distributors of the 1994 film Natural Born Killers) caused the 14-year-old Michael Carneal to shoot members of a prayer group. The case was dismissed in 2001.

The same year, the film became controversial in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre and the Heath High School shooting, when critics noted similarities between these shooting attacks and a fantasy sequence in the film in which the protagonist wears a black trenchcoat and shoots six classmates in his school classroom. The film has been specifically named in lawsuits brought by the relatives of murder victims.

Similar Movies

Trainspotting (1996). Requiem for a Dream (2000). Leonardo DiCaprio appears in The Basketball Diaries and This Boys Life. Christiane F (1981). The Panic in Needle Park (1971).

Soundtrack

The Basketball Diaries soundtrack was released in 1995 by PolyGram to accompany the film, featuring songs from Pearl Jam and PJ Harvey. AllMusic rated it three stars out of five.