You Got Served

Directed by Christopher B. Stokes

Punking out audiences nationwide 1/30/2004

1 *

At one point during the purgatorial screening of You Got Served, a character advised some disappointed dancers that his father always told him that, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I waited around for the end credits, but did not see a mention of a character named F.W. Nietzsche, Jr. However, with little else to think about during this inept dance competition exploitation flick, I was wondering if watching this movie would make me stronger. Having survived the first wave of break dancing movies in the ‘80s, I suspect that these mind-numbing experiences ripped out of my life in 90-minute chunks may not kill me, but all they really do is make me more miserable. If they made me stronger, I would be able to bench press a Buick by now.

I was not expecting a comeback for break dancing movies. Little more than an attempt to cash in on youth culture with plots ripped off from the “let’s put on a show” school of screenwriting, I was not expecting “Breakin’ 3: Electric Tub ’o Goo.” Elgin and David are two friends in Los Angeles whose days are spent sleeping in and playing basketball (uncommented upon are moms and sisters going off to actual jobs). Their nights are spent in break dancing competitions in which rival gangs face off in dance confrontations, do their bits, and then wait for the cheering audiences to decide who gets the winner-take-all pots that each of the groups have put up. To finance their lifestyle (and to raise money for a $5,000 challenge from some suburban wannabees), the lads also do delivery work for the local thug. But then things start to fall apart with such original plot devices as a traitor within the ranks, the friends coming to blows over romantic entanglements, losing the crook’s money, and the big dance contest where the former friends reunite.

The fact that whatever illicit deliveries they are responsible for is never revealed nor that there are any repercussions for their criminal activity is the movie’s most reprehensible quality (and quality is not really a word that should be used in a review of You Got Served).

Almost as offensive as its amorality is the movie’s technical deficiencies. It is far too rare to see a movie as incompetently directed as this one. Certainly, contemporary audiences are treated to uninspired direction of barely competent actors or uninspired frame composition in a world where every filmmaker knows that his work is going to be seen by more people watching on television sets than movie screens (why bother with backgrounds if they are to be reduced to insignificance). But the work here shows a sloppiness on such a basic level of introductory camera placement and movement that it would be the equivalent of buying a book and finding it filled with spelling and grammatical errors. It is unfathomable that nobody on the set bothered to tell director Chris Stokes about breaking the axis and why actual movie directors do not do it.

Even if poorly filmed, the dance numbers do have a certain energy although the overall effect is hurt by a certain monotonousness of style. They are kids with a dream and nothing can stop them. Now if they only worked that hard on their math and reading homework

–Bill Henry

Related Reading:

Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies

The Independent Film Producer's Survival Guide: A Business and Legal Sourcebook

100 Modern Soundtracks (BFI Screen Guides)

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: 5th Anniversary Edition

The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, Updated & Revised (Film Critics of the New York Times)