The Player stars Tim Robbins as a slick and amoral film studio production vice president whose cool aplomb is pierced by some death-threatening postcards from an angry screenwriter. When the hotshot executive then acts upon his worst impulses, he has to fend off the studio's chief of security (Fred Ward) and a sly police investigator (Whoopi Goldberg). Adapted from a novel by Michael Tolkin (The Rapture), this satirical gem provides a behind-the-scenes look at Tinsel Town's movie pitches, power lunches, corporate in-fighting, and bottom-line priorities. Director Robert Altman returns to fine form here and, with a nod to the public's celebrity worship, fills the film with 65 stars playing themselves in bit parts.