Stars: Bruno Kirby, Lorraine Bracco, Ernie Hudson, Patrick McGaw, James Madio

Director: Scott Kalvert

Summary: Writer Jim Carroll and his journey into drug addiction, crime and depravation, before a period of incarceration on Riker's Island.

A member of the top high school basketball team in New York City falls prey to the lure of the streets- more specifically heroin- in this coming-of-age drama. Pre-superstardom Leonardo DiCaprio gives a strong performance in this gritty and interesting, if rather unfaithful, adaptation of writer/poet Jim Carroll's captivating teenage memoirs of being young and streetwise.

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The pre-TitanicLeonardo DiCaprio stars as Jim Carroll, the poet and musician who spent much of his adolescence addicted to heroin and shooting hoops with fellow Catholic high-school kids. As a biography, the film doesn't amount to more than the sum of its gritty scenes of smack use, violence, perversions (poor Bruno Kirby plays a lecherous coach who comes on to young Jim), and the usual scream-and-puke dramas that go along with a cold-turkey session. Director Scott Kalvert doesn't seem to realise that most people don't know who Carroll is and therefore can't possibly understand why they should care about his gutterball youth. DiCaprio, having nowhere to go with his performance but maintain Carroll's tailspin, is boring and redundant. Some kind of allusion to the literary and rock &roll life that follows the mess we're watching might have been helpful. The DVD release offers the choice of a full or widescreen (letterbox) picture, plus interviews. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame, 1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Feature Montage, Interview Bites, Miscellaneous B Roll, Theatrical Trailer, TV Spots
Year:	1995
Release Date:	December 4, 2000
Runtime:	97 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	V A D 10010
Keywords:	Basketball, General, Drama, Diaries
Genre:	Drama