The Basketball Diaries

1995 Directed by Scott Kalvert

The true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist.

Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction.

Leonardo DiCaprio Lorraine Bracco James Madio Mark Wahlberg Bruno Kirby Patrick McGaw Juliette Lewis Michael Imperioli Ernie Hudson Manny Alfaro Cynthia Daniel Brittany Daniel Michael Rapaport Roy Cooper

Alternative Titles

To telos tis athootitas, Przetrwać w Nowym Jorku, Zapiski Koszykarza

drama crime

102 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by issy 🥝 ★★ 5

not quite what I expected from troy bolton’s origin story but the guy always was a bit unpredictable
Review by Twan ★★★★ 3

Shockingly similar to Space Jam.
Review by Bunny🐰 ★★★½ 4

Based on the autobiographical journals of Jim Carroll, the basketball diaries revolves around the life of him and a bunch of his friends and their descent into the hell hole of drug addiction and crime.
The basketball diaries is an accurate portrayal of how teenagers get drawn into to dark world of drugs and to what extent they can go to satisfy their hunger for it, it's a very depressing film specially the scenes of withdrawals that Leo's character jim is going through are hard to watch and leo is phenomenal when comes to his performance almost every member of the cast played their parts with perfection, but this movie isn't just about drug addiction it's also about loss and…
Review by ally 🦋 ★★★★ 2

drug addicts freak me out a lot but wow leo’s performance in this was incredible, so raw and haunting
Review by Jack ★★★

is this a prequel to the wolf of wall street
Review by William Teasdale ★★★★½

any movie in which a heroin addicted Leonardo DiCaprio jerks off on a roof deserves at least 4+ stars.
Review by maria ★★★★

me 25% of the movie: omg leo is so talented wtf
me 75% of the movie: omg leo is so hot wtf
Review by mima 🌙 ★★★★

This movie is really good, heart breaking and very realistic. It showes a lot of truth when it came to people struggling with drugs and violence. Its gritty and although I've never been in those situations I think its really realistic and added to that the story line is so good and so many talented actors.
Impressive performance from DiCaprio only involves you more and more into the story. I have no idea why he did not get an oscar for this.
He played his character with such a passion and he did it so well. There were scenes were I just cried.
There is one scene where he is crying at his mums front door and begging for money, that scene deserves an Oscar alone.
Review by francesca ★★★½

seeing this made me finally understand the anger people felt at watching leo lose oscar after oscar
Review by diana ★★★★ 2

Leo can get it anytime love you boo <33
Review by Lara Pop ★★★½

That scene where leo is trying to get into the house and get some money from his mother and the camera showing both of them but them not seeing each other because of the door thats between them but me seeing both their struggles and leo grabbing his mothers hand desperately and begging her for money and her not letting him in and being right because hes stoned out of his mind and has a knife and is fucking dangerous and unpredictable and leo realizing that sweet words are not going to get him the money and him stepping into crashing into the next phase the animal phase the wild unpredictable phase and him shouting a thousand bitches at his…
Review by JC13 ★★★★ 5

"Time sure flies when you're young and jerking off."- Jim Carroll
Happy 40th birthday to Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio! (November 11)
The Basketball Diaries tells the true story of Jim Carroll, who was a High School kid that got into drugs and many other things. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Carroll and he is terrific. He owned the role and I couldn't picture anyone else in it. Juliette Lewis is only in a few scenes, but she is great. Mark Whalberg is the other standout. The film features some very interesting camera angles, but I liked it. The music was good and The Doors' classic, 'Riders on the Storm' is put to great use. The film has a lot to say about friendship and peer pressure and I liked that a lot. It is a powerful film with many emotionally resonant moments. Yet another film that shows why you should never use drugs. 8/10

Recent reviews

Review by valentinita ★★★★

Leo’s carácter is extremely well played, also he seems to be pretty cute but he is broken inside. Totally love it
Review by Didi. 🤍 ★★★★½

didn’t read up much on it before watching, it turned grim and took many turns, great movie, acting and story. but i would never watch again.
Review by Jonsnow7u7 ★★★½

I literally looked up in google a PJ Harvey list of songs heard in movies and television shows and "Down by the Water" was on this film so I watched it because of that random thought <3
Review by amelia ★★★★★ 1

late 2019/early 2020 i was obsessed with this movie so rewatching it a year later and still having it bring me enjoyment, while finding more things about it that bring even more enjoyment is really fucking cool.
Review by g_moita ★★★★

Must see. The diary of a teen’s life troubles and adventures related to drug addiction. Leo’s outstanding performance.
Review by Howimetyourbacin ★★★★★ 2

0.003 saniyede altyazı okudum Leonardo beyefendinin güzelliğinin bir zerresini dahi kaçırmamak için bu arada UYUSTURUCU SATAN ANASINI SATSİN
Review by alijahan

We have a Little Leo little mark (still big).
Review by renzocandia ★★★

Leo la rompe toda pero es difícil de ver.
Si te gustó Beautiful Boy te puede gustar esta, o capaz no
Review by Tom ★★½

that’s a p big jump
Review by SimonAndThennn ★★★½

Ever thought about doing drugs. Don't do it. Especially heroin. This film will definitely make you want to steer clear of any such thing. Leonardo DiCaprio shows he was getting it done from early on. Cracking acting from both he and Marky Mark in the early stages of their careers. But yea just don't do drugs, and if you even think about it, watch this film.
Review by brenoalexndr ★★★½

They tried to make me go to Rehab
Review by Bennedict Louie Cortez ★★★★

If I could pick my top 10 favorite movies of all time, this is definitely on the list. This movie is from the autobiographical novel of Jim Carroll that narrates his life in the streets of New York and his involvement in drugs. This movie is hard to watch because it really showed here someone's life getting wasted because of drugs. We all go through adolescence. Our excitement to new and discover new things is normal. There will be good days and definitely, there will be bad ones. These substances are devil's plaything. The thrill that it gives, the satisfaction that we all want to feel, and the numbness it gives are so hard to resist. But does it fill…