Bradley Cooper

A GREAT MYSTERY lingers at the heart of "Silver Linings Playbook. " The mystery isn't whether Pat Solitano, played by Rydal-born, Oscar-nominated Bradley Cooper, will ever find mental health. Nor is it whether Pat will get back with his ex, fall for the dancing girl down the street (Jennifer Lawrence, also Oscar-nominated), or reconcile with his Eagles-worshipping, OCD-suffering, gambler dad (Robert De Niro, another Oscar nominee). The riddle at the center of this flick, the conundrum that's confounded viewers nationwide, is: What in the Rocky Balboa are "crabby snacks and homemades"?

Growing up in Jenkintown, Bradley Cooper lived and died with the Eagles. So he was quite at home in Silver Linings Playbook, which stars Cooper as the troubled Pat Solitano and Robert De Niro as his Eagles-obsessed father. During his youth, Cooper said, he and his own father, who has since died, were drawn together by the Eagles. "Anytime you can make a connection with your own life and your role, it's a great thing," Cooper, 37, said during an interview Wednesday at the Eagles' practice facility in South Philadelphia.

A friend who is raising money for Jeff Bauman - pictured bloody and ashen in a photo that has defined the Boston Marathon bombing - has collected more than $205,000 in two days. The sum grew by the minute Friday as donations arrived from around the world to "Bucks for Bauman!" - set up by the sister of Bauman's best friend. The fund-raising goal was increased from $200,000 to $1 million as money poured in. Bauman, 27, grew up in New England but has extensive family ties to Philadelphia and South Jersey.

JOHN BOLARIS HAS GIVEN UP on Philadelphia. Or at least on finding a job here. The former Fox 29 meteorologist is moving at the end of September to Long Island, N.Y., where he owns a vacation home. "I've exhausted all avenues. I still have some hope, though it's dim, that I can be here," said Bolaris, who hoped to work in town as his daughter Reina Sofia , 8, lives here with mom, Tiffany McElroy , former NBC 10 anchor. "I'm not going to continue paying a mortgage in New York and paying rent here," said Bolaris, who is working with producers of a potential reality show about a group of TV weatherpeople.

THE NEW MOVIE "The Words" was directed and written by a trio of childhood friends. One of the friends is named Bradley Cooper. Maybe you've heard of him. He's from Rydal. He was in a pair of little movies called "The Hangover" and "The Hangover Part II. " Also starred in a flick called "The A Team. " Last year, an obscure publication that calls itself People magazine dubbed him the "Sexiest Man Alive. " Ring a bell? Anything? "The Words' " writer-directors, Lee Sternthal and Brian Klugman, grew up in Dresher and Lower Moreland, respectively.

NOW THAT Philadelphia native Bradley Cooper has gone from popular supporting actor to movie star, thanks to "The Hangover," it was only a matter of time before he was linked to a movie-star girlfriend. He might as well start at the top. According to Star magazine, Bradley is "On! On! On!" with Jennifer Aniston. Yes, they could just be friends from "He's Not That Into You," but that's no fun. Not when they could be "On! On! On!" The "It Couple" du jour reportedly dined together at Manhattan's Il Cantinori on June 18 and the sparks, of course, flew.

T AYLOR SWIFT will never get to write a breakup song about Bradley Cooper . The Rydal boy rebuffed her before she had the chance. Swift asked best gal pal, Jennifer Lawrence , who starred with Cooper in the Delco-set "Silver Linings Playbook," to hook her up with the recently Oscar-nominated actor, according to RadarOnline. But Cooper, ever the classy one, turned down the offer because the 23-year-old Swift is far too young for him. Cooper turned 38 this month.

Bradley Cooper, the screen idol from Rydal with the laser-blue eyes, has signed a two-year development deal with Warner Bros. Cooper, 37, who was named People magazine's 'Sexiest Man Alive' in November, will give the film giant first-look at any movies created by his production company, 22 & Indiana, according to Variety. Cooper's company name appears to be an allusion to the intersection in North Philadelphia where his father grew up. "We're very happy to take our relationship with Bradley to the next level," said Warners chief Jeff Robinov in a statement.

IT'S NICE TO FIND somebody happy in his own skin. Actor Bradley Cooper is that guy. He sat in the executive dining room at the NovaCare Center on Wednesday, and he giggled when he recalled meeting Eagles LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson an hour before. He is an Eagles fan, unabashed and delighted. He is People magazine's Sexiest Man emeritus (actor Channing Tatum unseated him Wednesday), a designation that cemented him in the American consciousness. He is the lead in "Silver Linings Playbook," a romantic comedy set in Philadelphia and centered on the Eagles, that premieres Friday in limited release.

NOTHING'S CONFIRMED yet, but it looks as if Bradley Cooper will be back in town Aug. 27 for an invite-only premiere of "The Words" at the Prince Music Theatre (1412 Chestnut St.). In the film, Cooper, a Rydal-raised graduate of Germantown Academy, plays an author who steals from an older writer and takes great lengths to try to cover his tracks. The film also features Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons and Cooper's former girlfriend Zoe Saldana and was co-written and co-directed by two of Cooper's childhood pals: Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, whose credits include "Tron: Legacy.

Mud Matthew McConaughey has the title role - a mysterious fugitive discovered by two boys on an island in the Arkansas Delta - in Jeff Nichols' scary, magical, downright remarkable film. An instant American classic. R The Place Beyond the Pines Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Eva Mendes star in an epic drama about a motorcycle stunt rider/bank robber and the cop who chases him down. Boldly ambitious, with great performances from Ben Mendelsohn, Harris Yulin, and Ray Liotta. R Star Trek Into Darkness J.J. Abrams' reboot sequel is as good as (if not better than)

Movies Iron Man 3 See Steven Rea's preview on this page. Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal See Steven Rea's preview on this page. The Reluctant Fundamentalist See Steven Rea's preview on this page. Reviewed by critics Steven Rea (S.R.) and Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review. Blancanieves Inspiring and intoxicating mix of the old and the new, a Spanish black-and-white silent that takes the Brothers Grimm's Snow White fable and flips it and spins it, wondrously - and throws in a whole bullfighting angle to go along with the dwarfs.

A friend who is raising money for Jeff Bauman - pictured bloody and ashen in a photo that has defined the Boston Marathon bombing - has collected more than $205,000 in two days. The sum grew by the minute Friday as donations arrived from around the world to "Bucks for Bauman!" - set up by the sister of Bauman's best friend. The fund-raising goal was increased from $200,000 to $1 million as money poured in. Bauman, 27, grew up in New England but has extensive family ties to Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Boston native Mark Wahlberg was one of many celebs incensed by Monday's bombing attack in Boston that left three dead and more than 170 injured. "It's horrible, man. It's [expletive] disgusting, man. I just - I'm very upset," Mark, 41, said Monday at the New York premiere of his pic Pain and Gain . Later, he told an Us Weekly reporter, "The world obviously needs to change. If you think about all the events over the last couple years, if we can't protect our innocent women and children, then we have a serious problem.

42 Inspirational, old-fashioned Hollywood account of Jackie Robinson's historic demolition of the color barrier in Major League Baseball, and his relationship with Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers exec who gave Robinson his uniform. Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford star. PG-13   From Up on Poppy Hill From Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio, a gentle, meditative tale in which an industrious 16-year-old joins a campaign to preserve a dilapidated old clubhouse where the boys at her school live.

Before the enormous success of Silver Linings Playbook , both the book and the film, there was a young-adult novel called MonkeyShark . Don't expect a movie adaptation starring Bradley Cooper. But the poignant backstory of MonkeyShark and its protagonists - a redemptive tango of overcoming mental illness and miscommunication, surrendering old dreams and realizing new ones - would be a familiar plot to anyone who saw last year's Hollywood blockbuster starring Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence.