# You Got Served
**You Got Served** is a 2004 American dance drama film written and directed by Chris Stokes, starring [Marques Houston](https://www.edgepedia.org/marques-houston) and Omarion Grandberry as leaders of a [South Los Angeles](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-los-angeles) street-dancing crew who lose a battle to a rival crew and must rebuild to compete for a large cash prize. It was released theatrically by [Screen Gems](https://www.edgepedia.org/screen-gems) on January 30, 2004.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | January 30, 2004 (wide), distributed by Screen Gems; PG-13 for thematic elements and sexual references[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served) |
| Filmmakers | Written and directed by Chris Stokes, a music manager making his feature debut; cinematography by David Hennings[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-30-et-served30-story.html) |
| Cast | Marques Houston (Elgin), Omarion Grandberry (David), Jennifer Freeman, Meagan Good, Steve Harvey as Mr. Rad, with a cameo by Lil' Kim[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-30-et-served30-story.html) |
| Box office | Opened at number one with $16,123,105, a record for a new film opening on Super Bowl weekend; worldwide gross $50,811,858 against a reported $8,000,000 budget[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-03-et-dutka3-story.html) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/You-Got-Served) |
| Critical reception | 14% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (70 reviews) against a 69% audience score; Metascore of 37 on Metacritic from 24 critics[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/you-got-served/) |
| Choreography | Dance sequences choreographed by Dave Scott and Shane Sparks, who with Robert Hoffman won the 2004 American Choreography Award for feature film[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-30-et-served30-story.html) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365957/awards/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Elgin (Marques Houston) and David (Omarion Grandberry) lead a street-dancing crew that battles other groups for money and respect at a Los Angeles warehouse owned by club owner Mr. Rad ([Steve Harvey](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-harvey)). Elgin wants prize money to help his sister Liyah (Jennifer Freeman) attend medical school, and the friends also work as runners for a drug dealer named Emerald (Michael Taliferro). When Wade (Christopher Jones), a wealthy dancer from Orange County, challenges them to a battle for $5,000, Elgin accepts and stakes money borrowed from his grandmother; the crew loses, the friendship fractures, and the members must reunite for a larger competition with a $50,000 prize and a chance to appear in a [Lil' Kim](https://www.edgepedia.org/lil-kim) video.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served) • [7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/you-got-served-2004) • [8](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/you-got-served)
The title phrase comes from battle slang: "you got served" is spoken after a crew has been beaten on the dance floor.[9](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/movies/article/dance-competitions-disguised-as-a-movie-1135761.php)
## Production and choreography
Chris Stokes, the music manager behind the groups B2K and Immature, cast members of those acts in the film: Omarion Grandberry of B2K plays David, and Marques Houston, Jarell Houston (J-Boog), and [Lil' Fizz](https://www.edgepedia.org/lil-fizz) (Dreux Frederic) of B2K and IMX appear alongside them.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-12-wk-movies12-story.html) • [7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/you-got-served-2004) The dancers rehearsed for eight weeks before shooting began to develop new moves, according to Premiere's Peter Debruge.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served)
The Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas called the dancing the heart of the movie, "as spontaneous as it is spectacular, incorporating considerable gymnastics," and credited choreographers [Dave Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/dave-scott) and Shane Sparks with giving the sequences flow and form while preserving their street spirit.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-30-et-served30-story.html) Lil' Kim appears as the judge of the final competition.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-30-et-served30-story.html)
## Box office
The film opened on [Super Bowl](https://www.edgepedia.org/super-bowl) weekend 2004, a slot studios usually avoid, and topped the weekend chart with $16,123,105 from 1,933 theaters, surpassing the previous record for a new film opening that weekend, set by *She's All That* with $16.065 million in January 1999.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-03-et-dutka3-story.html) The Associated Press attributed the opening to the popularity of B2K among teenagers.[11](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/b2ks-served-debuts-at-no1/) Screen Gems' Valerie Van Galder noted that a grass-roots dance competition promoted by local radio stations served as an effective marketing tool, and that the film may have been the only African American-themed movie in the marketplace that weekend.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-03-et-dutka3-story.html)
Against a production budget reported at $8,000,000, the film earned $40,066,497 domestically and $10,745,361 internationally, for a worldwide total of $50,811,858, about 6.4 times its budget.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/You-Got-Served) The Los Angeles Times reported the budget as $7.8 million.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-03-et-dutka3-story.html) A home video release followed on May 18, 2004 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/You-Got-Served)
## Critical reception
Critics rated the film poorly while generally praising its dancing. The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads: "The dance sequences are exhilarating, but everything else about this movie is sloppy and generic."[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served) On Metacritic it scored 37 out of 100 from 24 critics, with one positive review, 15 mixed, and 8 negative.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/you-got-served/) Dave Kehr of The New York Times criticized the "annoyingly overedited execution of the dance sequences,"[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/you-got-served/) and the Los Angeles Times' review was the sole positive review counted by Metacritic.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/you-got-served/) Audience response diverged sharply: the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter stood at 69% from more than 100,000 ratings.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served)
The film received two Teen Choice Award nominations and two MTV Movie Award nominations, including Breakthrough Male Performance for Omarion, and won the American Choreography Award for Outstanding Achievement in [Choreography](https://www.edgepedia.org/choreography) in a Feature Film for Dave Scott, Shane Sparks, and Robert Hoffman, tied with Sylvain Chomet for *The Triplets of Belleville*.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365957/awards/)
## Legacy
The film is regularly identified as a defining entry in the 2000s wave of hip-hop dance movies centered on crew battles, alongside *Stomp the Yard* (2007) and the *Step Up* franchise (from 2006).[12](https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/476016/uploads/3432497a-6870-46ea-90be-f1632c4e090d.pdf) Scholars have criticized its cultural framing: one thesis notes it was marketed as a narrative about "breakdancing" while depicting scenarios the author calls far-fetched and culturally inaccurate, conflating breaking with the separate funk styles of popping and locking,[13](https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/980453/1/allen_MA_f2015.pdf) and David J. Leonard's *Screens Fade to Black* argues the film reduces blackness, through its deployment of hip-hop styles, music, and dance, to an easily commodifiable aesthetic.[14](https://cultureinjection.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/david-j.-leonard-screens-fade-to-black-contemporary-african-american-cinema.pdf)
Its audience reach outlasted its reviews. The actor [Shameik Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/shameik-moore) told Time that seeing the film in 2004 made him leave the theater dancing and planted the seed for his dance career.[15](https://time.com/3926352/shameik-moore-dope-interview/) A sequel, *You Got Served: Beat the World*, followed, and a further installment, *You Got Served 2: Winner Takes All*, was announced with actor Christopher Jones in production.[16](https://eprints.ums.ac.id/19514/2/04_CHAPTER_I.pdf) • [17](https://annettbone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Christopher-Michael-Jones.pdf)
## References
1. [You Got Served, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_got_served)
2. [Kevin Thomas, "'You Got Served' is powered by the energy from street dancing," Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2004](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-30-et-served30-story.html)
3. [Elaine Dutka, "Hip-hop lures the few who skipped the Super Bowl," Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2004](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-03-et-dutka3-story.html)
4. [You Got Served (2004), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/You-Got-Served)
5. [You Got Served Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/you-got-served/)
6. [You Got Served (2004) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365957/awards/)
7. [You Got Served (2004), NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/you-got-served-2004)
8. [You Got Served Parents' Guide, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/you-got-served)
9. [Ellen A. Kim, "Dance competitions disguised as a movie," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 29, 2004](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/movies/article/dance-competitions-disguised-as-a-movie-1135761.php)
10. [Leslie Gornstein, "No such thing as gravity," Los Angeles Times, February 12, 2004](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-12-wk-movies12-story.html)
11. ["B2K's 'Served' Debuts At No.1," Associated Press via CBS News, February 2, 2004](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/b2ks-served-debuts-at-no1/)
12. [Evan Legaspi, "Spectatorship and Legacy: The 2000s Hip-Hop Musical," Chapman University](https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/476016/uploads/3432497a-6870-46ea-90be-f1632c4e090d.pdf)
13. [MA thesis on hip-hop dance terminology, Concordia University](https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/980453/1/allen_MA_f2015.pdf)
14. [David J. Leonard, Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema](https://cultureinjection.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/david-j.-leonard-screens-fade-to-black-contemporary-african-american-cinema.pdf)
15. ["What Dope Star Shameik Moore Thinks the History Books Will Say About Him," Time](https://time.com/3926352/shameik-moore-dope-interview/)
16. [Chapter I, thesis on You Got Served: Beat the World, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta](https://eprints.ums.ac.id/19514/2/04_CHAPTER_I.pdf)
17. [Christopher Michael Jones biography](https://annettbone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Christopher-Michael-Jones.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Sports and music drama films 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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