The Basketball Diaries

View Date: 10/18/09

This movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Whalberg, is a movie about a group of basketball players who fall into a downward spiral into drugs. There is a group of four friends who just happen to be the best basketball players in the city. They start off using drugs casually as a form of enjoyment, and generally in social situations. However, as mentioned before, things start spiraling out of control after the loss of one of their team to illness. One member of the group resists the temptations and succeeds, but the rest's lives fall apart.

This was a gripping and gritty portrayal of teenagers' descents into addiction. It also shows the pain and hardship experienced by those associated with addicts. It explored the destruction of lives from all angles, and the struggles to try to regain lives after addiction. It was based on a true story of the writer of the book, who also wrote songs based on his past.

10 words or less: Dark, gritty movie featuring young now-huge actors.