You Got Served (2004) Reviews

• The dancing is great but everything else falls apart

  christian1232004-11-15

  The competitive world of street dancing is explored through the eyes of two best friends, played by Marques Houston and Omarion. As the leaders of a hot local dance crew, they are challenged to a competition that causes a rift in their friendship, but if they're going to win at "The Big Bounce" they will have to put their dispute aside and work together. You Got Served has some great dance spots but not much in terms of plot or originality. The makers of You Got Served only had one thing on their mind and that was to wow its audience with its dancing. They succeeded at making the dancing really good but failed to make a good movie. If you watch it just to check out the dancing and ignore everything else then you will enjoy it. But if you notice how bad the acting is or how stupid the story is then you will hate it. The dancing sequences are done extremely well and the movie gets a ten on that part but for everything else it gets a three. The acting was decent enough for this type of movie but it could have been a lot better. The plot was stupid and it was tied together with the dance sequences. I think so many people hated this movie because of the story not making a lot of sense. While I didn't really like the film, I'll admit that the rating of 1.8 is too low for the movie. It was a bad movie but it wasn't that bad. Chris Strokes does a good job at directing the dance sequences but he can't tell a story at all. He would randomly move from scene to scene and none of them would really make sense. I heard they're going to make a sequel so hopefully they will work a little harder on the script. Though if they did make one, I probably wouldn't watch it. In the end, unless you're into dancing, this film is worth skipping. Rating 4/10

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• WOW! This is monumentally bad!

  Mr_Vai2005-01-07

  I think this screenplay was written by a couple of junior high students whose lone experience in life has come from watching MTV. Actually, it is close to being funny, but right before you are about to laugh at how dumb it is, you are more repulsed by how bad it is. Then there is the acting, or lack thereof. I just love the way all of the "performers" pose and "front" for the camera. They look so moronic! I guess what you want to know, is this film so bad that it is good? No, it is so bad that it is horrible. Oh yeah, the story is about crews that challenge each other to "dance-offs." Really, it is.

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• Good dance movie

  nicegal2112008-06-28

  I think a lot of the people who commented on this movie before me were way too harsh. This is a teenage dance movie. If your not a teenager or into dance your not gonna get into it. Granted SOME of the script wasn't that great but I thought the basic heart of the story was good. I really don't get why all you people go out of your way to pick a movie apart. This is not some boring life affirming drama,this movie is for fun! So take it like that enjoy the fairy tale where everything works out and get a life. Another thing,you have got to be kidding me with all the comments about bad acting,they were not that bad! The only time I found them bad was when the script made them say stupid crap. Oh and about them acting all "thug" like,are you serious?! Do you people even know any teenagers? ANY? Black white whatever? That is how they talk! Its not exaggerated!

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• Like Polio, this should be wiped from the face of the Earth.

  Canadria2004-08-28

  Let's start off with the best part of the movie. Steve Harvey. This man is usually funny, or at least mildly humourous. In this movie, he had maybe 5 lines, all of them not funny. We would believe that he, as a dance off judge, has more power than the apparent bad ass "gansta" boss. The dancing looked good. I commend the people in the movie for their talent, but the movie stank. Like an old septic system. The acting was substandard at best, the direction poor, timing lousy and the characters were 2 dimensional. Not to mention that the "competition" movie is a terrible cliche. I wanted to write a better review, but I feel as if a percentage of my brain wasted away while watching this horrible thing. Don't bother with it.

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• A shameless promo with great dancing, heavy music but zero plot, awful acting and no value as a piece of cinema

  bob the moo2004-05-31

  Elgin and David are best friends and the leaders of the best dance crew in the area. Their dominance is threatened when a crew from another area challenges them to a battle for the stake of $5k – a challenge that they accept. However when the crew are betrayed by one of their own and the challengers simply steal all their moves before they can perform, the bet is lost. David and Elgin suffer further strife when David lets Elgin down when it comes to business – putting them in debt to the local gangster. They are forced to put their differences behind them as a major dance competition is put on that offers them the prestige and money to get out of their situations. Having a close friend with a black teenage daughter I have a vague knowledge of bands like IMX and B2K; and I know who manages them as well – none other than Chris Stokes, writer and director of this promotional video. I say promotional video because this is not a film, not in anything but the most basic use of the word. The plot is a very obvious series of dance battles backed up by some very simple plotting that almost totally fails to engage. What the film does do though is deliver some very good dance scenes which are enjoyable so long as you like that sort of thing. For me the atmosphere, skill and music involved in these scenes almost made it worth seeing – almost. Sadly the bits between the dance moves are just awful. The basic story is not the biggest problem, it is the manner that it is delivered. Stokes' script is nothing but a collection of black clichés all speaking in heavy ebonics. I will give you the fact that some people do talk like this but here it just lazy writing – rather than writing characters he simply creates clichés to make the audience accept them. Having a black ex-wife I have seen a fair collection of 'black' movies from America and happily not all of them are as lazy as this but far too many simply trade in these street-talking, thug-loving clichés. Last week in The Times was an article about black exploitation films from the 70's get re-releases, I do not think that they need a release because these exploitation films have just been replaced by the modern black comedy. I'm sure I'll be shouted down for this but when I see something that stereotypes race I must call it – whether it is a film that is deliberately racist or lazy. Given the all black cast then I cannot call this racist but it is certainly lazy and simplistic. As director Stokes also shows himself to be totally lacking in his own imagination – witness the jump-zoom technique that he overuses, that's been done everywhere and it's a sad indictment of his vision that it seems to be the only trick in his bag. With only clichés and 'thug attitude' to work with it is no surprise that the performances are bad – a fact not helped by the cast is populated by people who seem unable to deliver any dialogue with any degree of natural sense. I wish I was so naïve that I thought that the presence of Omarion, Houston and Lil' Fizz was down to their talent rather than Stokes' involvement in the film. Omarion is one big black cliché and he seems to think that making a charming character involves just flashing a smile and saying 'y'know' lots. Houston avoids the clichés a bit better but only has two modes – one mode is him brooding around like someone just stole his last forty and the other mode is clichéd street-smart mode. Suffice to say, neither can act. You know you're in the sh*t when it comes to your cast when Steve Harley is your big name guest star – a fact that highlights the film's values. The rest of the cast are just like the support cast of any music video – pretty boys and girls. I'm not complaining because I thought Freeman was cute and minor appearance from music video regulars McCall and Rodrigues were hot. Likewise I'm sure teenage girls will go mad for the buff male cast too – but lets not call them actors just because they are reading lines off cards. Overall this film is worth seeing if you like the 'clowning' type of dancing that this film trades on or if you like hip hop (the cynical side of me thinks that the 30 second snippets of songs is designed to sell the soundtrack), however this is not a film in any way, shape or form. The story is rubbish and if you can't see how it is going to end after 15 minutes then you are a muppet. The script creates clichés rather than characters and relies on staples of black movies to get by (shootings, dealing, b*tches and basketball) and uses lazy ebonics in place of dialogue. The casting is simply self-promotion of Stokes' boy bands and none (and I mean none) of the cast actually act here – some of the delivery was amazingly bad. However, for the dancing and hip hop I consider it worth watching (even if it is only really a long music promo), but if you don't like this type of music then you will find this to be one of the most vacuous 90 minutes of your life.

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