“The Basketball Diaries” is based on late poet Jim Carroll's autobiographal book of the same name, and tells the story of a teenage Carroll growing up at a Catholic high school in New York City.
The film follows Carroll as a relatively harmless juvenile delinquent, running riot around the city with his friends and enjoying his status as a high school basketball star, to his eventual demise as a full-blown heroin addict before he's even finished school.
The second half of the film is centered around Carroll's addiction, with gritty subject material that is quite difficult to watch. However, DiCaprio's portrayal is definitely worth viewing this film for, and performances by the supporting cast, including Juliette Lewis and Mark Wahlberg, make this a realistic and powerful film about the living hell of drug addiction.