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Back Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle

You Got Served

Thankfully, B2K broke up so we don't have to sit through the potential sequel, You Got Served Again. Face it, if you paid to see this movie, you got screwed.

Marques Houston and Omari Grandberry star as Elgin and David - two friends who have their own street dancing crew in Los Angeles. While they win some money dancing in local competitions at
Mr. Rad's place, they earn most of their dough making deliveries for the local crime boss, Emerald (Michael "Bear" Taliferro). After getting double-crossed in a high stakes dance off, things just keep getting worse.

When Elgin and David decide to break up the crew, will the two pals realize they need each other to solve their problems?

You Got Served is full of great dance sequences, but it is better suited to being a music video rather than a movie. I know I have said this many times in the last few weeks, but there are times when this movie gets cartoonish. From the over the top crime lord to the ridiculous dialogue to the constant desire of the actors to pose rather than act, this movie is very bad.

Writer/director Christopher Stokes has thrown just about every movie cliché into this film that he could fit in 90 minutes. Lots of this will sound familiar since we have seen it in different movies over the
years - Elgin and David are fighting because David is dating Elgin's sister; they need to win the big dance contest to solve all of their money problems; their main nemesis is a rich kids crew from Orange County that wants to co-opt the street life that our heroes have lived through; emotions come to head when David and Elgin want to win one for the gipper; and more. The plot doesn't move smoothly to include each of these minor subplots in a way that will build the drama, it just feels scatter shot like Stokes is trying to throw everything in for the sake of having it. He never goes below the surface to delve into the characters, they just aimlessly wander through the movie from dance scene to dance scene.

As far as the acting goes, did I mention that the cast is made up of hip hop stars instead of actors? I guess Stokes doesn't delve into the characters because these actors can't act. You get what you would expect from people who don't do this for a living - a bunch of kids playing themselves with little ability to draw any emotions out of the audience, stiff recitations of the lines and an overall flat tone no matter what dramatic action is supposed to be happening on the screen. Even Stokes knows that he is facing an uphill battle to get the kids to act, so You Got Served cuts out lots of dialogue to showcase dancing, which is the highlight of the film.

If you want to see some great dancing and listen to some cool music, this is the movie for you. If you want a top-notch film, may I suggest Big Fish?

1 Waffle (Out Of 4)

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