Basketball Diaries Full Movie Review

The story behind the real-life high school basketball star Jim Carroll’s disastrous descent into heroin addiction is told with grungy authenticity in this kitchen sink melodrama. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a powerful performance, showing off a newfound acting depth in scenes that move from juvenile pranks to harrowing sequences of drug withdrawal. But without a clear moral at the end this picture degenerates into just another rote, descent-to-hell junkie flick.

The film is based on Jim Carroll’s celebrated memoir of the same name, published in 1978. Its connection to that book is surprisingly weak, though. There is no big game finale drawing the story forward, and DiCaprio doesn’t have a lot of dramatic momentum to work with.

Still, he is very convincing as the kid who is dragged down this path by bad choices. He and his friends, including the arrogant Mickey (Mark Wahlberg – a.k.a. Marky Mark), the serious Neutron (Patrick McGaw), and the undersized hanger-on Pedro (James Madio) all throw away their talent in a desperate search for cash. They end up robbing stores and ripping off old ladies just to get enough money for drugs.

It is amazing to see how a good kid can go down this horrible road just because of one bad decision. The film does raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse but it is not a very pleasant movie to watch. I hope that someday a streaming service will release this movie for everyone to see.