The Basketball Diaries
The true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist.
The true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist.
Crime, Drama
-
1995
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A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
Director:
Cast:
Similar
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Details
Rated:
R
Runtime:
102 min
Release date:
21 Apr 1995
Country:
US
Languages:
English
Budget:
$2,000,000
Revenue:
$2,381,087
Awards:
N/A
Top Critics Reviews
rotten:
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.
– Kenneth Turan,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Feb 2001
rotten:
You leave The Basketball Diaries believing that Leonardo DiCaprio can do anything.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
12 May 2001
rotten:
The star shines, but the movie is hard to watch.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
30 Aug 2004
rotten:
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.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
24 Mar 2008
fresh:
For those few soul-freezing moments, you get a glimpse of the great actor Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
24 Mar 2008