Screen Gem Pictures released the movie “You Got Served” on Jan. 30 spawning a large amount of negative reviews.This hip-hop comedy explores a social subculture by following the competitive world of street dancing where crews “battle” each other for money and respect. The movie focuses on a pair of friends, Elgin (Marques Houston of IMX) and David (Omarion of B2K), who want to open up their own hip-hop dance and recording studio. In order for them to make this dream become a reality, they make money by challenging other crews to dance battles for cash. When a crew from another town challenges Elgin and David to a battle, the race begins to create and perfect the most cutting edge moves in order to stay on top. The stakes are raised when a friend and member of the crew betrays loyalty and dances for the other crew. Motives are revealed and differences are overcome when a $50,000 prize is offered to the winning crew of an MTV dance competition.
The cast has some well-known figures such as comedian Steve Harvey and a cameo by singer Lil’ Kim and some lesser-known figures like Jennifer Freeman and Meagan Good. Along with the two big celebrities, MTV makes an appearance by continuing to use its name as a means of portraying youthfulness and trendiness.
I wish I could say the acting was great, and I can see it getting an award, but it has about as much of a chance as the “Pokemon Movie” did a few years back. Movies that lean on gimmicks to be successful never are, and the gimmick in this movie is dancing. Along the same lines of the 80s cult hit “Breakin’,” “You Got Served” will suffer from the same fate as its older brother did in its time.
The movie’s plot line is some sort of mix between a soap opera and a thriller, both of which are underdeveloped. Now, those out there who think I don’t like this movie because of some strange negative racial motivations I may have, get over yourself. I can respond by saying the white guys in this movie are more painful to watch acting than anyone else.
Realizing that this is technically a dance movie, I should not hold its actors and actresses up to the same level as say someone with talent. The dancing though is worth watching. Even if you spent your entire high school existence avoiding the dances, or as a wall flower, you can still get into and appreciate the dance scenes. The next problem with the movie is the dance scenes. There are not enough, and the choreography is constantly repeated in different orders with a few new, welcomed additions here and there. All in all, the acting and the dancing were good but could have been better.
The movie’s tagline, “if you want respect, you’ve got to take it,” is quite ironic when you think about it. Not once in the movie did the director try to take my respect; all who have seen this movie know sure well he didn’t earn it. Instead, I felt as if he was trying to punish me for my past actions. With that said, I can’t help but remember how watching the acting in this movie made me remember the laws in this country against cruel and unusual punishment.
In closing, I feel that I should say at least one nice thing about the movie. While the acting, the dancing and the editing – which I did not even want to get into – seemed to be the work of someone with either no talent, or absolutely no experience. The dancers’ talent alone is what made this movie what it is, and I recommend seeing the movie for that fact alone; just do not bring along any expectations of academy awards.
