On Monday night, I watched Comedy Central's network premiere of High Fidelity, the John Cusack comedy about love, Top 5 lists, and rock 'n' roll. I'd never seen the movie before, and enjoyed it for the most part, except for some parts that just didn't seem to add up. Last night, I found out why.

Comedy Central pretty much emasculated the movie. They did a real number on it. I'm not talking about the profanity--I'm talking about essential plot points.

For instance, when Jack Black and Sonic Death Monkey sing "Let's Get It On" at the end of the movie, it seemed, on Monday night, like just a nice little ending. On Tuesday night, I figured out that in reality, Marvin Gaye and "Let's Get It On" were a recurring theme throughout the unedited movie, and, in fact, Cusack's character Rob gave credit to the song for his relationship with Laura. All of a sudden, that last scene takes on a whole new significance.

The editing also seriously diminished the roles of Rob's two record store employees. While in the unedited version they are crucial comic relief, in Comedy Central's version you're left asking yourself exactly why they were thrown in so randomly when they seemed so unimportant.

Perhaps the most atrocious editing involved cutting Rob's explanation of the four factors for the breakup that Laura shared with Liz. By cutting the explanation, Rob lost a lot of my sympathy on Monday night. By the end of the movie, I was fairly indifferent as to whether this dipstick should actually get Laura back. On Tuesday night, with the explanations, I realized that I was supposed to be rooting for the reunion, after all.

Comedy Central should be ashamed. While they issued the disclaimer that the movie had been edited for language and content, they didn't mention that essential plot points had also been gutted. I wasted two hours of my time watching a movie on Monday night that was presented in a manner that preserved no artistic integrity whatsoever. How about a little higher fidelity in the future, hmmmm?

Bobby Allison-Gallimore's current Top 5 activites: 1) Studying for class, 2) Going to basketball games, 3) Writing for BlogCritics, 4) Writing for The Rattler, 5) Going to Thursday's Great Divide concert in Manhattan, KS.