30 Chick Flicks in 30 Days: Is Your Valentine Worth It?

What are you doing for, say, about the next 30 nights? Have you considered using them to take a soul-searching -- and perhaps painful -- cinematic journey to better understand the opposite sex?

Nick Waters, from the small town of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, has committed to going where no man or woman has presumably gone before. For 30 days, beginning on January 15th and ending on Valentine's Day, Nick will voluntarily live out many a man's (and, honestly, many a woman's) worst nightmare: Watching, reviewing, and perhaps even learning from one chick flick each night.

Think about that for a moment. Thirty days of chick flicks.

Why is Waters doing this to himself? You're probably assuming that he's certifiably insane. But when I spoke to him on the phone, I failed to detect even the slightest hint of lunacy or madness (and crazy knows crazy). Instead, Waters' decision to endure a month of chick flicks seems to come from a genuine desire to understand more about women and what they enjoy/despise about Hollywood's depiction of romance.

To help understand just what "30 Chick Flicks in 30 Days" is all about, I asked Waters about his homespun investigation into ladies and the romantic comedies they love.
I know classifying films can be tricky. What components need to be present in a film for it to meet your definition of a "chick flick?"

For the most part, I have intentionally left it up to the people who've recommended the films I'm going to watch. In fact, I'm trying to not define it, so I can absorb other people's opinions of what a chick flick is. For example, I recently saw a trailer for the movie "Australia." It seemed to have a quasi chick flick feel to it. I asked on Twitter "Is this a chick flick?" and a woman from Dallas responded that any movie with Hugh Jackman in it is a chick flick. I guess that makes "Wolverine" a chick flick.

How did the idea for the 30 Chick Flicks Challenge come about? Was it your idea?

It actually dates back to July 31st, my wife Nicci's birthday, when she wanted to watch a chick flick. I made the suggestion, "Wouldn't it be cool to watch 30 chick flicks in 30 days?" She got excited about the idea and I said, "Hold on, let me think about it," and then she seemed disappointed. I wanted to incorporate my wife and other key people in my life in it.

I talked to her and my mom about it, and she suggested that it should coincide with a romantic US holiday, so that's how we ended the idea of ending it the day before Valentine's. The 30 Chick Flick Challenge itself was actually a suggestion from my friend Mike Dyson, while we were talking about it at a conference about online content. The hat hook for the whole idea is the question, "How far would you go to understand the opposite sex?" Mike's idea to challenge people to do their own 30 days project really helped embrace the online community aspect to answer that question.

Do you have any grandiose ideas about the 30 Chick Flicks Challenge bridging the gender divide? Or is this more of a personal quest to understand the female psyche?

I don't know if I would dare attach any verbage like gender divide or revolution or anything like that, but I can't deny the impact that pop culture has on our lives. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but if women didn't like what Hollywood was making, they would stop making it. So, it's an informal study of Hollywood's portrayal of romance that people can have fun with. Personally, I want this to make me a better husband and a better person.

When I think of 30-day challenges, I can't help but think of "Super Size Me." Are you concerned about any of the
health risks associated with a month-long chick flick binge -- nausea, vomiting, low testosterone levels, or mental illnesses like genuine empathy?

I joked online that I may have to schedule time away from the computer screen and movies to dedicate time to power tools in order to reconnect with my masculinity. Really though, I want it to impact me, because if I'm going to invest the time and effort, I at least want something to happen to me. I have no idea where this is going to go.

That's part of the mystique to me. It's like a test, you prepare as much as you can, but you don't really know how its going to go until you take it and think, "Oh man, I totally folded up and bombed on that one," or "Yes, I really crushed it."

On a scale from 1 to 10, how sick are you of terms like "rom-com" and "dramedy?"

Over the time I've been working on the website, I've grown quite fond of the term "chick flick." Rom-com seems like a fresh spin on the same concept, with less effect. Dramedy ... I'm not a fan of it. I don't hate it, but to be honest, I've never even heard of it until you just said it.

Which film on your list do you most dread watching? It's "Marley and Me" isn't it?

No one's actually recommended "Marley and Me" yet. There really aren't any that I'm dreading though. Part of the reason is the films that have been recommended. I can't really remember most of them ever being promoted or pushed by Hollywood. So, it's like they flew under the radar and I haven't had a chance to get sick of them yet.

Any chance you'll use your knowledge of chick flicks to produce the ultimate, super-romantic, tear-jerking chick flick blockbuster? If not, what do you plan to do with all of this research?

I have been asked if I thought this would be a book. While I'm open to it, I don't know just yet. I've definitely talked to other people who've had the idea that this could be a chick flick. I talked with someone who said I could totally see this being made into a movie where a guy was trying to use this approach to pick up women.

To follow Nick on his journey through 30 Chick Flicks in 30 Days, check for updates on his website or follow him on Twitter -- interaction is encouraged. In fact, he'll be taking movie recommendations up until January 15th, so get your favorites on his list.