Critical response
Following garnered positive critical reception. Los Angeles Times reviewer Kevin Thomas was particularly impressed by the "taut and ingenious neo-noir", stating that "as a psychological mystery it plays persuasively if not profoundly. Nolan relishes the sheer nastiness he keeps stirred up, unabated for 70 minutes." The New Yorker wrote that Following echoed Hitchcock classics but was "leaner and meaner". TV Guide called it "short, sharp and tough as nails", praising its fast-paced storytelling and "tricky, triple-tiered flashback structure." Janet Maslin, in a review for The New York Times, highlighted the film's non-linear structure. David Thompson of Sight and Sound commented that "Nolan shows a natural talent for a fluent handheld aesthetic." Jonathan Romney of New Statesmen praised Nolan's "disorienting" urban depiction of London, and compared his filmmaking to Nicolas Roeg and Chris Petit. Stephen Garrett, writing for IndieWire, called the film a "major highlight" of "inspired drama".
However, Tony Rayns felt that the film's climax was uninspired, saying that "the generic pay off is a little disappointing after the edgy, character based scenes of exposition". Empire's Trevor Lewis questioned the skill of the film's inexperienced cast, saying that they "lack the dramatic ballast to compensate for [Nolan's] erratic plot elisions." Dennis Harvey of Variety felt the British film was compromised by its "Amerindie feel", stating the limited depths of the characters didn't justify its grittiness. He believed its narrative "might work better in a more commercial framework". In contrast, David Thompson was of the opinion that the "unfamiliar cast acquit themselves well in a simple naturalistic style."
Following received generally positive reviews. The film has an approval rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Super brief but efficient, Following represents director Christopher Nolan's burgeoning talent in tight filmmaking and hard-edge noir." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
In 2007, filmmaker Joel Schumacher praised Following as the work of a "brilliant" young director. "I always had him in the back of my mind, thinking, 'We're going to hear from this guy, big time.' Then I saw Memento and the promise was fulfilled very fast."
Critics have noted that Following is an early example of Nolan's trademark use of a non-linear plot structure. In 2012, Jim Emerson of RogerEbert.com stated that the film "shows the Nolan we now know almost fully formed". The name Cobb was reused for a character in Nolan's 2010 film Inception. In 2020, Matt Goldberg of Collider noted that Following introduces themes that Nolan would continue to explore in his later films. Siddhant Adlakha of IGN described the film as an early example of Nolan's thematic exploration of obsession and "logic vs impulse". Adlakha wrote that the film's characters evoke classic film noir archetypes, but that the "disorienting narrative" sets Following apart from a typical film noir. He also compared certain scenes to the 1945 film noir Detour and the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger.
Following has since been recognized as one of the most notable no-budget films of its time. Several members of Following's cast and crew went on to collaborate with Nolan on his later films, such as composer David Julyan, producer Emma Thomas, and actors Jeremy Theobald, John Nolan, and Lucy Russell.
