18. The Basketball Diaries
New Line Cinema
The Drugs: Heroin, cocaine While The Basketball Diaries isn't exactly the most impressive movie about heroin addiction ever made - a preachy undercurrent runs throughout which certainly detracts from its potential power - it's nevertheless compelling enough to be worth a watch, not least for two impressive performances from Leonardo diCaprio and Mark Wahlberg. From potential ace basketball player to fidgety heroin addict, Jim Carroll (DiCaprio taking on the role of the author of the book on which the film is based) descends into the gutter of addiction. Suitably bleak and miserable, given the subject matter, it was also hugely controversial at the time, and a scene in which Jim fantasizes about going on a killing spree was accused of being an influence on the killers of Columbine some years later. Despite its flaws, The Basketball Diaries never treats the subject of addiction frivolously, and DiCaprio demonstrates just how great he can be given the right material.