Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense captures Talking Heads performing live at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood in December 1983, during the tour for their album Speaking in Tongues. David Byrne opens the show alone on a bare stage, and the other members appear one by one as the set progresses, with additional backing vocalists and guest musicians joining later. The staging builds gradually alongside the music, and the song selection draws on material from across the band's career.

Jonathan Demme directed and wrote the film, his fourth feature in a directing career that would eventually run to fourteen films, coming between Fighting Mad and Swing Shift. Gary Goetzman produced, and the band members appear as themselves: David Byrne on vocals and guitar, Chris Frantz on drums, Jerry Harrison on guitar and keyboards, and Tina Weymouth on bass, with Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry among the backing vocalists. Made for about 1 million dollars, it took roughly 6 million dollars worldwide.

Reception has been strong across audiences and critics alike. On IMDb it holds 8.7 out of 10 from around 24,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 8.3 from 393 votes. A critics' rating of 9.4 from 71 reviews places it higher still, an unusually wide agreement between professional and general viewers for a concert documentary.