_Angus_ suffers from a bit of an identity crisis: 1. It's very much an '80s movie set in and made in the '90s. 2. It's a drama trying to juggle elements of comedy, perhaps out of fear that the target audience wouldn't be able to handle an honest drama.
The story is as cliche as you can get with a teenager going through high school not fitting in. This is the blueprint for every John Hughes movie, only not as good. Now this isn't to say the movie is completely bad, in fact, it's mostly good. Problem is, _Angus_ is handling some heavy subjects, and is not equipped to do so.
Let's talk a bit about the cast: Kathy Bates is too good for this film, to the extent that I was taken out of the moment every time she was on screen - which, oddly, wasn't very often.
George C. Scott's character was redundant: Angus' father was already dead, did he need another father-figure death? That entire part needed to be taken out, just give the lines to Bates.
Moving on to Van Der Beek, he did an okay job, but was not landing as the jock antagonist. His swings from being an annoying rich boy, to arrogant jerk, to violent bully just didn't work. He either needed to be the popular psychopath who uses words and intimidation or the sadistic football player who wouldn't bat an eyelash at breaking a little boy's arm.
I have to mention the cameo by Irvin Kershner. The man directed _The Empire Strikes Back_. RIP, good sir!
Finally, I will talk about Ariana Richards, best known for her role in _Jurassic Park_. Whatever happened to this girl? She just dropped off the face of the planet. Anyway, her role needed to be bigger. I hate to sound like a third-wave feminist here, but she's nothing more than a prop for Angus. I never got the sense that he actually had feelings for her, because he didn't know anything about her, by extension, neither do we. Look, I get it, this is high school, "relationships" can be shallow, but come on, at least for the audience, give us something.
So, yeah, this is a drama first, with some comedy added. The soundtrack has a lot of great music from bands such as: Green Day, Weezer, Pansy Division, and Riverdales.
With a rewrite or a better director, this could have been a classic. Instead we're left with a clunky teen movie whose heart is bigger than its brain.
That being said, the underwear scene was funny.