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The Basketball Diaries Movie Review Summary

Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Mark Wahlberg, Bruno Kirby, Juliette Lewis

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Basketball Diaries


The Basketball Diaries is a story of the harsh realities of drug addiction and the ease in which occasional drug use turns into a daily must. The main character, Jimmy Carroll (DiCaprio) was a promising basketball player and through his constant diary writings he showed us he was an deep thinker. At first drugs were just for sex and parties but soon it was affecting his basketball and home life. Jimmy and his mates soon turned to serious crime and quickly became desperate junkies. Throughout this Jimmy keeps writing in his diary and this gives us a thorough view of his thoughts. Eventually Jimmy gets sent to jail and this helps him clean up and start afresh, but it is easy to tell that Jimmy is one of the lucky few who make it out of the vicious drug cycle.
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The review of this Movie prepared by Jarrad Heal




This 1995 film portrays the highly autobiographical novel by Jim Carroll about his free fall from great promise as a high school basketball player into the harrowing world of drug addiction. Partly to escape their rotten surroundings (a best friend dying of leukemia, a perverted and molesting coach), the boys turn to stealing, robbery, and prostituting themselves in order to get heroin. DiCaprio does a solid acting job as Carroll, and though the story is pretty graphic, it remains a fairly pedestrian effort with a truncated and unconvincing conclusion. Juliette Lewis disgraces herself in a small role as a reformed drug addict and prostitute.
The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus



Script Analysis of The Basketball Diaries

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Plot & Themes

Time/era of movie:    -   1980's-1999 Kids growing up/acting up?    -   Yes Kids:    -   committing crimes    -   fighting with parents Crime & Scandal    -   Yes Story of    -   life in drug culture Age group    -   trouble in high school

Main Character

Identity:    -   Male Profession/status:    -   student Age:    -   a teen Ethnicity/Nationality    -   White American

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   Northeast City?    -   Yes City:    -   New York    -   dirty, grimy (like New York)    -   dangerous Misc setting    -   prison    -   school    -   sports arena

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   moderately detailed references to deaths    -   explicit references to deaths Sex/nudity in movie?    -   Yes What kind of sex:    -   actual description of sex    -   seeing nude male butt Any profanity?    -   A lot of foul language Is this movie based on a    -   book

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