You Got Served

You Got Served
Directed by	Chris Stokes
Written by	Chris Stokes
Produced by	Marcus Morton Cassius Weathersby Billy Pollina
Starring	Marques Houston Omarion Robert Hoffman Tanee McCall Jennifer Freeman Chris Jones
Edited by	Earl Watson
Music by	Tyler Bates
Distributed by	Screen Gems
Release dates	January 30, 2004
Running time	95 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$48,631,561

You Got Served is a 2004 drama film written and directed by Chris Stokes, manager of its stars, recording artist Marques Houston and the members of boy band B2K. The plot concerns a group of dancers, who take part in a street dancing competition. It was released by Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems division on January 30, 2004, during the Super Bowl XXXVIII weekend and was produced by Marcus Morton and Cassius Weathersby, Billy Pollina. It opened at #1 at the boxoffice during Super Bowl weekend with $16 million USD grossed in its first week, a record until late 2005.

Title

There has been some attempt to break the titular expression into the mainstream. The expression "you got served" has been used to describe someone or something that has either lost badly or been humiliated (or possibly both). Also, "to be served" is legalese for facing litigation, i.e. being officially warned that the process is pending against you (see Service of process); or, a reference to serving food, or one's head on a platter. The key concept is that to be "served" is against one's will - to be given something that is undesirable...

Plot

David (Omarion) and Elgin (Marques Houston) lead a promising streetdancing crew in Southern California, who participate in street dancing battles produced by a local club owner Mr.Rad (Steve Harvey). All is well, until Sonny, a member of their original crew, expresses dissatisfaction over the subordinate role the other members of the crew play.

When David and Elgin are challenged by "some rich kids out of Orange County" for five thousand dollars, they think it's easy money. Although it is never actually said, it is assumed that they deal drugs for Emerald (a local drug lord) to cover their half, never dreaming they would lose the battle.

When Sonny (Young Rome) sells them out by going to the other side ("Wade's crew"), he teaches his new companions moves from the David and Elgin crew, and in the battle they are badly defeated. Wade, crowing over his success, delivers the titular line, "You're just mad... 'cause tonight you suckas got served!"

Meanwhile, David and Liyah (Jennifer Freeman), Elgin's sister, are falling in love. At a restaurant, Liyah turns off David's cell phone immediately before Elgin attempts to call him to say that Emerald has given them a job earlier than expected. David fails to show up for the job, and Elgin is subsequently beaten and robbed.

Consequently, Elgin gets very angry at David for attempting to "hook up with my sister when you should have been taking care of business," and is also annoyed at his sister for "acting like a ho". Elgin is also worried, since he owes Emerald money to cover for the loss of his goods.

Both split up and form their own crew, but neither is as good as on their own as they are combined. They learn about the "Big Bounce," a $50,000 dance competition purportedly sponsored by MTV which will provide the winning crew the opportunity to perform in a Lil' Kim video. Elgin sees this as a good way to pay back Emerald.

Attempts to bring Elgin and David together, particularly by Liyah, are fruitless, and twice they nearly come to blows and have to be separated. One of the younger members of the crew Lil Saint (Malcolm David Kelley) dies (from being shot) prior to the competition; while all are saddened it is not enough to bring the warring enemies back together yet.

At the "Big Bounce" competition, Elgin's crew beats David's crew in semifinals, and then ties the finals against Wade's crew. Lil' Kim, guest referee, on advice from Mr. Rad, declares a playoff competition, "straight hood," with no rules, even allowing other people to join the battling crews.

This proves the catalyst for Elgin's feud with David to end (though only after prodding by crew members and threats of forfeiting the competition to Wade), and together they defeat Wade's crew in a mesmerizing final battle using advanced powermoves of professional breakdancers like air flares, flares, split mills, and runners. They shout the "You Got Served" line in retaliation to Wade after he claims the battle settled nothing. The partisan crowd, elated, begins chanting "Served! Served! Served! Served!" getting louder and faster. Elgin accepts David's relationship with Liyah at picture's end.

Soundtrack

You Got Served Soundtrack features mainly music by B2K, but also Marques Houston, and many others. There were some profanities in the soundtrack such as "Streets Iz Callin" but did not receive a PA label. The soundtrack was released on December 23, 2003. Also, release a music video of B2k's "Badaboom" featuring Fabolous and Marques Houston was the guest appearance. The music video contains female club while showing the You Got Served movie shots.

Several Music found in the film is not listed on the Soundtrack, these include: Joe Buddens (Feat. Big Mike) - Pump It Up (Final Battle), Timbaland & Magoo (Feat. Fat Man Scoop) - Now Drop, Jahalla (Feat. Kia Starr) - What You Don't Know.

Development

The original screen play was called 'DANCE'. The second rewrite changed the title included the word "Bitch", as in "you got served, bitch" but this was eventually dropped.

Tryouts of dance crews around Los Angeles were held and the winners were featured in the film. Several dancers were discovered by the choreographer and producers during trips to several competitions around Los Angeles.

B2K still performed songs for the movie in what was said to be their final performance together, although breaking up prior to the film's release.

Reception

You Got Served opened at the #1 spot, knocking The Butterfly Effect out of that spot. It had generally poor reviews, earning a 17% approval rating rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While many critics enjoyed the dance sequences, they found the rest of the movie to be rather generic.

The movie is also credited with launching the current surge in dance films such as Step Up and How She Move in film and television.

Parodies

• This movie was parodied in Season 8 episode 115 of South Park called "You Got F'd in the A".
• The film Meet the Spartans parodies this movie in a scene where the Spartans face off the Immortals.
• The 2004 video game The Bard's Tale had a parody scene with a dance off between zombies and skeletons.
• The show Robot Chicken the parodies this film using characters from the anime Voltron.
• The TV show Saturday Night Live.
• In the online game Guild Wars: Nightfall if the dance command is entered at the correct place before the final battle the boss will dance and instantly kill you. The words "You Got Served" appear afterwards.

External links

• You Got Served at IMDb
• You Got Served at AllMovie
• You Got Served at Box Office Mojo