Starring:
Omari Grandberry as David
Marques Houston as Elgin
Jennifer Freeman as Liyah
Jarell Houston as Rico
Dreux Frederic as Rashann
DeMario Thornton as Vick
Marty Dew as Marty
Jerome Jones as Sonny
Tanee McCall as Toya
Amanda Rodrigues as Keke
Malcolm David Kelley as Lil Saint
Meagan Good as Beautifull
Steve Harvey as Mr. Rad
Christopher Jones as Wade
Robert Hoffman as Max
Michael Taliferro as Emerald
Esther Scott as Grandma
Oscar Orosco as Oscar
Jackée Harry as Mama
Special Features:
Video and audio dance commentary by cast and crew
Commentary by director and cast
“Serve It Up: The Making of You Got Served”
“Badaboom” Music Video by B2K featuring Fabolous
Battle of the Beat clip compilation
Dance Breakdown: interactive multi-angle featurette
Other Info:
Widescreen (1.85:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
French Language
French Subtitles
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Synopsis:
On the streets of LA, Elgin and David are leaders of a dance crew. They compete in dance competitions with other crews at Mr. Rad’s Warehouse. Elgin and David’s crew is well known as the best out there. When a group of rich white boys challenge them to a competition, they gladly accept. After all, they could use the money. But when a teammate switches sides and gives the new crew all their dance moves, Elgin and Davids crew is soundly beaten and out $5000. This, of course, strains their friendship. Problems further arise when David starts dating Elgin’s sister. The final blow to their friendship comes when David fails to help Elgin on a delivery for a local crime lord. Elgin is robbed, beaten, and subsequently owes the money that was taken. The only way they can get themselves out of trouble and get their money back is to team up and beat the white kids, but can they put their bitter feelings behind them?
You Got Served is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and sexual references.
The Movie:
Let me start out by saying I hate rap, I don’t like hip hop music, and I couldn’t care less about cool dance moves. As you might expect, You Got Served didn’t stand a chance with me. I really hated it. The plot was terrible, the acting was bad, and I had no interest in the main selling points of the film. You Got Served has a limited audience and I wasn’t it.
As much as I hated it, I do have to say I can appreciate the talent of the dancers. They display amazing athleticism, strength, and agility. Some of their moves are quite impressive. But that’s really the only good thing about the film. I saw one reviewer suggest that the director would have been better off making a documentary about street dancing and I couldn’t agree more. The plot was only a weak excuse to string dance numbers together. If they would have dropped the bad story altogether, they would have had a more interesting documentary.
My other pet peeve with the film was that 90% of the dialogue was nothing but slang and bad grammar. The only people that seemed to properly speak the English language were the old people and the hot chick. Everyone else seemed incapable of communicating in anything but street lingo. Know whut I meen, dawg? Straight up, aw-ight. Peace out.
As I watched it, I kept having flashbacks to Michael Jackson’s “Bad” music video where the gangs dance against each other. There are so many moments in this film where they do a cool move, then look menacingly at the opposing crew. I kept expecting Jacko to come along and start moonwalking. I also had flashbacks to West Side Story, too. Ironically, in the DVD extras the director said he was trying to make a cross between West Side Story and Breakin’. Well, he was partially successful.
This movie is not for general audiences. It is for dance fans, hip hop fans, and anyone who loves Lil Kim (who has a cameo appearance along with her co-starring breasts).
The Extras:
Here are the highlights of the DVD bonus features:
Video and audio dance commentary by cast and crew This is your standard audio commentary, but with a twist. The cast and crew commentators are shown watching the movie. This is kind of cool because you can see the people as they are talking. During these times the movie shows in the lower corner of the screen. At other times the video disappears and you just see the movie on the full screen and hear their voices. Unfortunately, these people don’t have much interesting to say. They start out being seen eating food before the commentary and from then on it’s just random comments.
Commentary by director and cast This is easily one of the worst commentaries I’ve ever heard. It features cast members Omari Grandberry and Marques Houston. Not only is half of what they say unintelligible, but they say nothing relevant about the film. They simply marvel at how cool they think they look and crack jokes. I could barely stand it.
“Serve It Up: The Making of You Got Served” This is your standard “making of” video, but it seemed excessively long at over 20 minutes. There were extensive interviews with cast and crew and lots of behind the scenes footage.
“Badaboom” Music Video by B2K featuring Fabolous As I already mentioned, I hate hip hop, so this music video did absolutely nothing for me. The video is not unique and neither is the music. It only features clips from the film and a bunch of people dancing. I didn’t see anything to set them apart from all the other groups out there.
Battle of the Beat clip compilation This is just a series of clips from the dance routines in the movie, nothing more.
Dance Breakdown: interactive multi-angle featurette With this feature you can watch the opening dance scene from a variety of cameras. The angle button toggles between them.
The Bottom Line:
You Got Served is just for the Hip Hop Nation. Everyone else should avoid it at all costs. I suspect they’re using this film to torture prisoners in Iraq.
