You Got Served

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.

The catchphrase to this move is:

If you want respect, you've got to take it?

Indeed, and let me add:

If you want a good movie, you've got to make it.

I did indeed get served. I big plate of PoopKababs.

I'm a big fan of the dancing. I spent many a night during my youth, glued in front of the tele, watching Solid Gold. Now that show had some dynamite dancing. And the costumes. Lordy! Lordy! Lordy! The dancing on this movie makes me think the choreographer was a 15 year old pimply faced chump named Herbert. Julia Styles is a better dancer than these kids. So is Urkel.

Would it have killed them to have some tap dancing? Maybe some Savion Glover? Now that dude can dance.

A plot line wouldn't have hurt either. Footloose is like Casablanca compared to this "film".

The only dancing I did, was on my way out of the theater, and into a better movie. ie. any movie.

"You Got Served" is a movie that was aimed solely at the youth market. There is no obvious good reason for this middle aged guy to watch it....except that I take pleasure in watching the film on IMDB's ever-changing "Bottom 100" list. And, it seems that "You Got Served" is now on the list...and I have to see it and review it! So be forewarned...I am not the target audience for a hiphop dancing movie, that's for sure!

Before I get to the review, I also think it's important to point out that although a lot of folks obviously hate this film, it DID do incredibly well at the box office. It earned back about eight times what it cost to make (this only counts US receipts) and even hit #1 at the box office! So, although there are some haters, the filmmakers probably were laughing all the way to the bank!

So is the film any good and does it deserve to be on the IMDB list? Well, the answer is no and no. It's not a particularly good movie, at least in some ways. And, it does not deserve to be on such an infamous list. First, what I liked. Although I think there was too much dancing, to the point where I felt a bit numb, the hiphop dancing was incredible and very well choreographed. While I don't like the music, I found myself enjoying the athleticism of these dancers. You cannot totally hate a movie with this much energy and talent. What I didn't like was the plot...especially Elgin. Liking this jerk and caring about him to too tough and the character seemed unreal...and since he made up so much of the plot, I found myself longing for the next dance number! Additionally, at times the film appeared to want to look and sound tough...though I couldn't help but feel everyone was too well coiffed, too scripted and too much like actors instead of street-smart kids. Overall, worth seeing once just for the dancing...and a film not nearly as bad as I'd assumed.



By the way, sadly, Michael Taliferro (Emerald--that REALLY tough guy) died of a stroke only two years after making this film. He was 44 years old.

Really good movie with a good story about friendship and loyalty, good soundtrack with good dancing and a happy ending, what more could you want.

This is the worst movie ever. Everything is wrong. Nothing makes sense. They don't practice? So they all just do the same thing at the same time by coincidence? Wow. What are the chances? David just rejoins the crew and is totally able to keep up? Of course. He's just a natural born dancer. It's in his blood to serve. Why do they all live in middle class suburbia? Isn't this supposed to be like a growing up in the hood movie? Why doesn't Elgian's sister have a ghetto accent? She sounds like a cornfed white girl.

And what's the deal with the directing? The camera shaking when they land?

You MUST be shrooming. How is the bad ass of this group of hardcore thugs a 10 year old? The 10 year old dies in a gun fight? Seriously, Chris Stokes, what were you thinking?

And the most disappointing part of this movie was the dancing. I was not expected Shakespeare. I wasn't even expecting Danielle Steele, but I thought at least the dancing would be good. Finally, in the last scene of the movie, they really start to dance. Up until then it's just kinda jiggly walking which is really more weird than impressive or cool. Why didn't they get real break dancers? It's not like the actors could act anyways.

However, if you want to know the truth, this movie had some very funny moments. Nothing that was actually supposed to be funny, but it was funny nonetheless. Still, I don't know if I could watch this movie more than two or three times, without my head exploding.