Served Hot

You Got Served (2004) may be the first of the type of urban dance movies we've been watching. It might also be the most random. Great dancing though.

Omarion Grandberry and Marques Houston are in one of the best street dance teams around. They compete at warehouse dance-offs MCed by Steve Harvey. They make a little money, but always need more - they are saving for a recording studio, for some reason (I don't think either makes music). They get challenged (served) by a crew lead by some lame rich white kids, with $5,000 on the line. But they rich crew got one of their dancers to defect, and now they know all of their moves, so they lose more money than they can afford.

To make it up, they do some drug courier work. Meanwhile, Omarion is falling for Houston's cute sister, Jennifer Freeman. During one of their secret dates, she turns his cellphone off, so he doesn't get the message that they need to make a delivery. Houston goes it alone and gets beaten and robbed. Now he needs a lot more money - but it also breaks up the crew, because Grandberry and Houston are on the outs.

When one of the kids who liked to tag along gets killed in a drive-by (like they always do), the gang gets back together for the Big Bounce dance-off, with a big cash prize and a chance to dance in a Li'l Kim video.

Most of the plotty stuff is either silly, cliche, or inconsequential (like the defector - we never find out what happens to him). The drama of the story never seems to get mirrored on the dance floor. I actually thought they might be using different actors in the dances and the rest, but no, these are some of the finest b-boy and b-girl dancers around. The dances are very hot, with a lot of aggression and flair. But I don't feel like they really link up with the drama off the floor, except for who is winning or losing.

I may be getting close to my limit on these movies, unless someone steps up and makes one that really stands out.