What exactly did Leo Kander and Eva Shapiro do under the moon years back at summer camp? It’s a question asked by the new indie comedy “31 Candles” by Jonah Feingold, who stars, wrote and directed the film.
Leo wants to get close to bar/bat mitzvah tutor Eva Shapiro (Sarah Coffey). He was never a bar mitzvah, and though he’s about 17 years late, he hires her to teach him, hoping he can get her to fall in love with him. Feingold and Coffey have great chemistry and a palpable comedic connection, including the awkwardness of her being almost six inches taller than the 5-foot 8-inch Feingold.
For most rom-coms, it’s a simple formula: boy meets girl, they fall in love, encounter some obstacles, almost break up, then get back together. Did Feingold feel any pressure to deviate from that and present a nuanced story?
“I did,” Feingold told The Journal. “This is the second movie I’ve made where (the ending is) not traditional. … I was excited because it is a fitting end for the character. I was happy to have an off-beat ending as opposed to the traditional rom-com.”
Feingold said he never had a bar mitzvah, though his parents and sister had bar and bat mitzvahs. “In a sense, I treated the movie as my bar mitzvah,” he said.
It’s nearly impossible for someone who doesn’t speak Hebrew to learn a bar mitzvah parsha in a couple of months. In “31 Candles,” Eva tries to teach Leo the trope, or cantillation notes by using different moves on the basketball court.
Feingold previously directed “EXmas,” a Christmas movie about a guy who feels it’s odd when he arrives to see his family for the holiday and his ex is there. Should we expect Feingold to do a Jewish holiday movie to rival it?
“I would love to make a Hanukkah movie,” Feingold said. “There’s a shortage of really strong ones. The Hanukkah movie I’d want to make is a Jewish East Coast family that clashes with a jolly-old reindeer family from the Midwest. In one setting you get to see both sides of culture and both sides of the festivities.”
Feingold’s comedic delivery has a pinch of Ben Stiller and a drop of Jesse Eisenberg that’s crossed with Seth Meyers. Coffey has a quirky bluntness and she’s totally believable; when Eva tells Leo he has a terrible personality, she manages to do it in an endearing way.
Coffey has a fine voice. Eva, an actress as well as a bar mitzvah tutor, sings “After You Get What You Want, You Don’t Want It” for an audition. She also belts out in a wild “Ose Shalom” joined by the great comic, Judy Gold. Jackie Sandler, Adam Sandler’s wife, is endearing in the small role of Leo’s mother.
“31 Candles” is a surprising film with plenty of laughs that lets you fall in love with Leo and Eva and is a much-needed romantic comedy that charts its own course. How did Feingold find Coffey?
“Sometimes I beat myself up just for just lying in my bed and scrolling on TikTok,” he said. “The one time it really paid off was when I came across her work. I said, ‘Let’s get together for coffee,’ no pun intended because her last name of Coffey. I brought my camera with me, and we did a camera test. I was curious how we would vibe. I watched the footage back and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is Eva Shapiro.’ I was lucky to find her and she’s a wonderful human being.”
It was “incredibly difficult” for Feingold to write, direct and star in the film. Sometimes he was left wondering if he nailed a scene with nobody to tell him whether he did or not. But he was confident due to having little pretense and focusing on the result.
“The reason I wanted to play the character is I’m really not afraid to fall on a banana peel,” he said. “I think most men starring in romantic comedies worry a lot more about looking hot and being cool than being vulnerable, perhaps comedic or being laughed at. I was not afraid to do that. I just wanted to play a fun character.”
He hopes people feel some sort of warmth and happiness from the movie and understand that many things in life are lessons — relationships can evolve, they can get either better or worse.
Feingold said it was the most famous Jewish director who first made him think making movies should be a career for him. The reason he’s a director is Spielberg’s “Hook.” He saw it 100 times and was blown away. “My parents loved movies and I was quickly introduced to Billy Wilder, Nora Ephron, Albert Brooks and Woody Allen.”
While Feingold has primarily lived in New York, he has also spent time in Los Angeles.
“The difference in dating is it’s an easier thing to do in New York,” he said. “There’s happenstance and serendipity. You can lock eyes on the subway. You can go on the apps and go to a show or a basketball game. I found LA tough because you can’t walk someone home. You have to both go to your cars. Then you have that awkward goodbye. It’s just more complicated to me.”
Feingold said he’s working on a rom-com script called “Young at Heart” about his parents. This movie also has a unique premise: Two 70-year-olds wake up in their 20-year-old bodies, and the question is whether or not they will fall in love once again.
In a world where most rom-coms are cliché-riddled, “31 Candles” is a fun ride where Feingold has taken his shot with a unique story and he’s hit the mark. Feingold is a filmmaker to watch.
