The Basketball Diaries!!!

'The Basketball Diaries' which is based off a novel that shares the same name, written by Jim Carroll is based off Jim Carroll's own personal life. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jim, a young high school kid living in Manhattan, New York and gets caught up with the wrong crowd and drugs. He spends majority of the movie doing drugs, writing in his diary, playing basketball and getting into trouble. The audience roots for Jim to get better, to get help, to pull himself together but it's a tough battle for Jim and even tougher to witness. Can Jim get his life back on track and pursue his basketball dreams or will drugs take over his life, consume him and fall down a horrid spiral path?
'The Basketball Diaries' is truly amazing, sure it's hard to watch and difficult to wrap your head around the fact that 17 year old kids are shooting up heroin and sniffing coke in the bathroom at their school gym, but it is based off of true facts. This is, in my opinion, one of Leonardo DiCaprio's finest roles. The fact that he was not even nominated for his performance is mind boggling. He portrays Jim as a young tough guy, and not afraid of anything (i.e. jumping off cliffs, robbing stores, mugging old ladies, and doing all sorts of really dangerous drugs). He has three best friends, Pedro (James Madio), Mickey (Mark Wahlberg), and Neutron (Patrick McGraw). Pedro and Mickey are horrible influences on Jim and vice versa, they get too caught up on getting high then enjoying themselves as teenagers. Neutron was a part of their clan but sort of drifted apart after realizing how bad his friends just wanted to get high, and not just on marijuana.
The acting in this film is remarkable, the way DiCaprio portrayed a young drug addict was scary, because of how believable he was. He portrays his character with ease. A young teen who wants to play basketball but when drugs intercept things begin to change, Jim begins to change. I think DiCaprio was excellent in the different levels of Jim and the audience truly cared for him. As I said in the beginning, everyone roots for Jim, and seeing the journey that DiCaprio takes Jim on is highly enjoyable.
It was also great to see so many familiar faces in this film, Mark Wahlberg, Lorraine Bracco, Bruno Kirby and Juliette Lewis. Everyone was truly great in their performance and enjoyable to watch. Who doesn't love a young Marky Mark?
The film is incredibly gritty, it was purposely shot that way, which I liked because it really shows how bad drugs and their influence on people especially kids, really are. The storyline is interesting, it keeps the audience always on the edge of their seats and always wondering 'what's going to happen next?' It's suspenseful and thrilling, and highly entertaining but you have been forewarned some parts are very hard to watch.
I would highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the acting of Leonardo DiCaprio, I really think this film portrays one of his best roles, and anyone who enjoys gritty, suspense thrillers. If you have seen 'The Basketball Diaries' please share your thoughts!!!