The Basketball Diaries (1995)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 39
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 21
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 9
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 54,088
My Rating
Movie Info
Very loosely based on the memoir of the same name, The Basketball Diaries transposes the late '60s adolescence of writer/artist Jim Carroll to some unspecified time period at least 15 years later, further confusing the timeframe with three decades of rock music, some by Carroll himself. Jim (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his Catholic school chums are on the hottest basketball team in New York, but their friend Bobby (Michael Imperioli) languishes in the hospital with leukemia. In-between typically
Apr 21, 1995 Wide
Jun 30, 1998
PolyGram Video
Cast
-
Jimmy Papiris
Iggy -
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jim Carroll -
Nick Gaetani
Referee -
Bruno Kirby
Swifty -
Alexander Gaberman
Bobo -
Lorraine Bracco
Jim's Mother -
Ben Jorgensen
Tommy -
Ernie Hudson
Reggie Porter -
Patrick McGaw
Neutron -
Akiko Ashley
Stripper -
Juliette Lewis
Diane Moody -
Cynthia Daniel
Winkie -
Brittany Daniel
Blinkie -
Erik "Panther" Betts
Drug Dealer #1 -
Joyce R. Korbin
Mugging Victim -
Lawrence Barth
Referee #2 -
Gary Iorio
Policeman -
Jim Carroll
Frankie Pinewater -
John Hoyt
Billy the Bartender -
Manny Siverio
Pino -
Tom Fitzpatrick
Subway John -
Vincent Pastore
Construction Worker -
Manny Alfaro
Manny -
Doc Dougherty
Policeman -
Barton Heyman
Confessional Priest -
Michael Imperioli
Bobby -
James Madio
Pedro -
Michael Rapaport
Skinhead -
Marilyn Sokol
Chanting Woman -
John C. Vennema
Mr Rubin -
Josh Mostel
Counterman -
Roy Cooper
Father McNulty -
Toby Huss
Kenny -
Mark Wahlberg
Mickey -
William Webb
Juju Johnson
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All Critics (40) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (21) | DVD (9)
For those few soul-freezing moments, you get a glimpse of the great actor Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be.
Significantly, the movie keeps the hero's reformation offscreen as well as unexplained; it's more interested in shock effects than in candor or elucidation.
The angel-faced DiCaprio is a gifted actor, but he lacks the authority and physical presence to keep us with him.
Top CriticThe star shines, but the movie is hard to watch.
You leave The Basketball Diaries believing that Leonardo DiCaprio can do anything.
Although it masquerades as a cautionary tale about the horrors of heroin, this epic of teen-age angst is more accurately seen as a reverential wallow in the gutter of self-absorption.
What almost saves the muddled pic from fouling out is the raw dynamic performance by Leonardo DiCaprio... .
Stark tale of teen drug abuse and delinquency.
An uncomfortable experience, to say the least. But also quite rewarding.
Bleak, depressing independent film making with an incredible performance by Leonardo Di Caprio, The Basketball Diaries shows that, if anything, it is the company you keep that will eventually lead to your downfall.
It was impossible in The Basketball Diaries not to take notice of DiCaprio's seemingly undauntable talent, as he channeled the tortures of the drug-addicted damned. [Blu-ray]
...an intoxicating, frightening and emotionally honest essay on the self-destructive impulses of the nascent artist.
Di Caprio gives a bravura turn that should've won him an Oscar
Although the film, like most films that deal with drug issues, has a preachy sincerity and a focus on the woes of drug use it makes for effective, compelling viewing.
If the idea of watching Leonardo DiCaprio pout for 90 minutes gives you sweaty palms, by all means go.
You never understand what really motivated this intelligent adolescent, a gifted basketball player and sensitive writer, to descend into the hellish life of a drug addict and hustler on the mean streets of New York.
Crushingly over-emoted and internally inconsistent; for Leo die-hards only, and how many of those are around anymore?
Audience Reviews for The Basketball Diaries
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- Jim Carroll: Don't let your mouth get you into something that your ass can't handle.
-
- Jim Carroll: And it's good that there is rain. It clears the month of your sorry rainbow expressions, and it clears the streets of the silent armies... so we can dance.
-
- Pedro: Holy shit, look at this place.
- Mickey: Wow! I tell you what, if our school was this nice I'd go more than once a week.
-
- Jim Carroll: You gotta have presence on the court. Presence like a cheetah rather than a chimp. Sure, they both got it, but Chimpy gotta jump his nuts around to get it. The shy cheetah moves with total nonchalance, stickin' it to them in his sexy, slow strut. Me? I play like a cheetah.
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Latest News on The Basketball Diaries
August 16, 2006:
Character Actor Bruno Kirby, Dead at 57You'd immediately recognize the face (and the voice) from movies like "City Slickers,"...
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Foreign Titles
- Basketball Diaries, The (AU)
Back to the movie. Oh, hadn't started in the first place!!! The movie entertains as long as it depicts the teenage kiddo activities of Jim and company. It's fun for that part except for the sobby Bobby track in which Leonardo sucks. But the movie sort of descends with his downfall. It tries to portray the frustrations of an addicted teenager and how his relationships are worsened, but doesn't get it right. It becomes a bit too melodramatic, and some cliched dialogues only make it worse. And once he runs out of money to fetch drugs, it becomes tough not only for him but also for us. Wish it was the same for the recovery part.
However, on the whole, the movie's worth a shot. If you decide to see "The Basketball Diaries", please be cautious enough to not to piss on it.