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Hi 65 / Lo 40 |
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Volume 69, Issue 78,
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Arts & Entertainment
Only thing 'Served' is worthless movie By Geronimo Rodriguez
Unless street dancing lands on its feet soon, You Got Served can't be saved from its crippling story line. Christopher B. Stokesi flick, which is stapled together by a handful of young guns from the music world, excels when it comes to what some would call action-filled dance scenes, but splits its head open when itis time to tell a good story. Starring Omari Grandberry, a main player from the now-defunct r&b group B2K, and Marques Houston, a solo hip-hop artist, the filmis producers might capitalize on teens wanting to get a closer look at their favorite artists, but itill get cut down once audiences witness this disaster. The rest of B2K (Jarell Houston, DeMario Thornton and Dreux Frederic) also star in the movie in more limited roles, which merely translates into less bad acting for the audience to see. It tries to squeeze out a decent movie, but instead pinches out a loaf that stinks for about an hour and a half. The drama begins when Elgin (Houston) and David (Grandberry) get caught tripping, and old grandma doesnit have enough money in the cookie jar to help out. From there, the guys turn to dancing to save their precious lives. Thanks to cliche-soaked dialogue in You Got Served, all the sweat and bruises that went into the street dance scenes went to waste. To the naked eye, it seems filmmakers had chosen to use pulleys and other gadgets to bring to the screen more eye-peeling dance moves, but they claim none were used. Instead, they said, they brought in dance experts from around the world to contribute to this teen flick, including Wade Robson, whose 15 minutes of fame ended somewhere between him tugging at Britney Spearsi hip-huggers and playing with ‘N Syncis toys. The handful of competitive dance scenes, called "battles" on the streets, offer some guys sliding across the floor on their heads and even elevating themselves without the use of any ropes. All that work for nothing. It doesnit help that the newcomers, namely the B2K boys, seem to be trembling when they lay down a shaky one-liner. Aside from having to overcome those first-time jitters, Grandberryis character also has the task of trying to cook up an on-screen romance with Jennifer Freemanis Liyah, a sweet student who also puts in hours at the hospital. Thereis nothing more embarrassing than watching a screechy-voiced guy try to work some magic, which brings to mind another one the movieis problems. These teenagers are walking around with a couple of grand just in case they want to compete with another crew; they spend their nights serving as delivery boys for some big pimp; and then for no apparent reason are handed a script ridden with a dialogue that just doesnit fit the movieis description. Perhaps this genre will take off, but it wonit be because of You Got Served. You Got Served Rated: PG-13 Starring: Marques Houston, Omari Grandberry Screen Gems The verdict: Save for 12-year-olds, you done got stupid if you go see You Got Served. Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu |
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