its accurate portrayal of high school life compared to similar films about adolescence, since it takes a critical look at obesity, bullying, self-esteem, and high school inclusiveness, while highlighting the importance of self-acceptance. Godfrey Cheshire of Variety wrote, "Jill Gordon’s script is emotionally ingenuous and pleasingly to-the-point, while Patrick Read Johnson’s skillful, unpretentious direction involves some fine work by cast’s appealing youngsters, especially Charlie Talbert as Angus and James Van Der Beek as Rick.” Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle also reviewed the film positively, writing, "Slight and contrived as it is...[Angus] has a genuine warm spot for the outsider or socially awkward misfit -- and that covers just about everybody at one time or another.” Janet Maslin of The New York Times opined “‘Angus' is an easygoing if predictable alternative to more gimmicky teen-age fare", adding "Mr. Scott and Ms. Bates help dignify the film without condescending to their material, and help bring home the universality of its familiar ideas about fitting in.” Critic Emanuel Levy gave the film a "C", but conceded Angus was "played by newcomer Charles M. Talbert with a certain charm." Roger Ebert awarded the film three out of four stars and concluded "Charlie Talbert is a good casting choice for Angus, because he isn't a 'sort of' fat kid, like those models in the King Size catalog who look about 12 pounds overweight. He is fat. But he is also smart, likable, resilient and engaging. And he has the gift of deflecting his shortcomings with humor." Home media The film was released on VHS on August 27, 1996. It was later shown in an edited-for-TV version on Turner-owned cable television stations. On December 17, 2009, Warner Archive released the film on DVD. In the years since Angus’ release, the film rights have been sold by New Line Cinema and are now privately owned. Responding to a fan about whether Angus will ever be reissued as a DVD or Blu-ray with the director’s cut version, Patrick Read Johnson said it would be a matter of significant fan support, in addition to recovering the original sound and film. Soundtrack The soundtrack includes the Weezer song "You Gave Your Love to Me Softly", which was used in place of the track "Wanda (You're My Only Love)" which had been written specifically for the film. Green Day contributed the song "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)", which was originally