History KarmaHoudini / Film

** Veronica herself qualifies as one for being the person who got Ron Burdundy fired in the first place for altering his lines. Granted she does admit this to Ron in the end that it was her doing but winds up getting away with it since the plot demanded it. If she had told the news team this or if one of them did tell someone about what Veronica did, she herself would've been fired for framing Ron.

* ''Film/SeventyOne'': Captain Harris covers up Sergeant Lewis' attempt to murder Gary and their allegiance with the protestant paramilitaries is not revealed.
** Quinn is a terrorist and he conspires to kill Boyle, the older and less violent IRA leader, and yet he is the only one of the 'provos' to survive the movie; despite Boyle asking Harris to kill him, the Captain allows Quinn to live and makes him an ally. He also lets him know that Boyle wants him dead.

* ''Film/ElCrimenDelPadreAmaro'': Amaro, the eponymous character is a young Catholic priest who, upon arriving to a small town, first successfully blackmails the director of a local newspaper into withdrawing an article that exposed the friendship of the local priest with a notorious drug lord, provokes the firing of the author of said article and his girlfriend Amelia breaking up with him. He turns his father (who helped him in his investigation) into a pariah, it gets worse: Amaro then seduces Amelia (despite her being just a teenager) and impregnates her, fearing for his career's future and his reputation among townspeople he takes Amelia to an illegal abortion clinic where due to a malpractice she starts bleeding uncontrollably and dies in his arms, despite this with the help of a woman he convinces the ENTIRE town that it was Amelia's former boyfriend the one who knocked her up and he was there trying to save her. The final scene has Amaro presiding over Amelia's funeral.

* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': Mr. Potter from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', despite going against the {{Media Watchdog}}s' [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode production code at the time]] (which stated that a villain ''must'' get his comeuppance, to make it clear that he should not be seen as a good role model for young, impressionable viewers).
** There's also a purported deleted scene where he has a heart attack after failing to ruin George, but was cut for being too graphic.

* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': Mr. Potter from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', despite going against the {{Media Watchdog}}s' [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode production code at the time]] (which stated that a villain ''must'' get his comeuppance, to make it clear that he should not be seen as a good role model for young, impressionable viewers). YMMV; the theme of the movie is that friends and loved ones are the real riches in life. Potter is, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by his own hand]], a lonely old man with nobody who really cares about him. He doesn't need to have a punishment enacted on him; he's already the poorest man in town. On the other hand, ''he'' is completely happy in his position, and doesn't recognize this at all. His status as KarmaHoudini is open to debate.

* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': Mr. Potter from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', despite going against the {{Media Watchdog}}s' [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode production code at the time]] (which stated that a villain ''must'' get his comeuppance, to make it clear that he should not be seen as a good role model for young, impressionable viewers). It's no wonder that the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch purporting to show the "lost ending" to the film, with George Bailey (Dana Carvey) and the townspeople bashing down Potter's door with TorchesAndPitchforks and attacking him for screwing George over and [[ObfuscatingDisability faking his own paralysis]], is seen as one of the high points of the show.
** Ultimately subverted when you realize that the theme of the movie is that friends and loved ones are the real riches in life. Potter is, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by his own hand]], a lonely old man with nobody who really cares about him. He doesn't need to have a punishment enacted on him; he's already the poorest man in town. But this logic is crushed when one thinks about it: ''he'' is completely happy in his position, and doesn't recognize this at all. So his status as KarmaHoudini still stands.

** Nick van Owen in ''Film/{{The Lost World|Jurassic Park}}'', whom caused all the deaths in the movie (mostly innocent people) and wound up making [=InGen=] order the T-Rex and her kid to be brought to San Diego ([[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever which goes as well as you'd expect]]). doesn't get any comeuppance - he simply disappear from the film's final act.
** In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', the Spinosaurus simply flees upon its defeat after Paul and Alan light their boat's fuel on fire.

* ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'': Richard Detmer, Andrew's alcoholic and abusive father. All we see from him throughout the film is nothing but [[AbusiveParents him berating and attacking]] [[KickTheDog his own son]]. Even the death of his wife doesn't cover the sheer volume of bad karma he had accumulated, ESPECIALLY during his final scene with him and Andrew in the hospital, where he blames his son for his wife's death. [[CaughtOnTape Not that it wasn't being recorded by a camera the police installed]], or that Andrew [[SelfMadeOrphan didn't try to kill him]] by having him fall from the hospital building (Matt caught him because he had just arrived and thought Andrew had simply lost his mind). He just disappears from the rest of the movie.

* ''Film/TheParentTrap'': In both versions of the film, the parents lied to their daughters for most of their lives, and had their friends and relatives lie to them too, about the existence of each other. Their father and mother moved to separate parts of the country (separate countries in the remake) and selfishly hoarded the child they had custody of, all so they wouldn't have to see or hear from one another. For that matter, if the girls hadn't learned about each other on their own, it was made clear the parents would've gone on lying. Yet the parents don't receive any kind of punishment for the objectification of their children, and instead they remarry and the family is united.

* In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', the Spinosaurus simply flees upon its defeat after Paul and Alan light their boat's fuel on fire.
** Nick van Owen in The Lost World, whom caused all the deaths in the movie (mostly innocent people) and wound up making [=InGen=] order the T-Rex and her kid to be brought to San Diego ([[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever which goes as well as you'd expect]]). doesn't get any comeuppance - he simply disappear from the film's final act.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Barbossa in the fourth movie. Not so much in the first.

** TheJoker too. Instead of falling to his death, he gets saved by Batman and in the last scene, he laughs maniacally.

* ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour'': Nothing ever happens to Mary Tilford at the end for spreading lies that ended in her teachers losing their school, becoming nationally mocked, caused [[spoiler:Karen's fiance to leave her]], and [[spoiler:resulted in Martha killing herself]]; as far as the audience knows, she doesn't even get the TV taken out of her room. At least her grandmother has the decency to develop what appears to be a guilt-induced, permanent half-swoon (and maybe even the vapors), but Mary seems to have no consequences at all.

* ''Film/DickieRobertsFormerChildStar'': The title character leaves work during his shift valet parking, takes one of his customers cars, and pisses off another driver who threatens him and writes down the license plate (Dickie isn't worried, since it's not his car and the windows are tinted). It turns out the car belongs to Rob Reiner, who gets attacked by the driver and needs a new kidney. Dickie's agent ends up donating a kidney in exchange for giving Dickie an audition. And Dickie ends up getting the part. Rob Reiner never even finds out that Dickie was responsible for what happened to him.

** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'': Mr. White escapes from custody after the attempt on M's life, evades Bond at the Quantum meeting in Austria, and thereafter simply disappears. Many people thought he would be dealt with in [[{{Film/Skyfall}} the next movie]], but he wasn't. However, this becomes a delayed form of comeuppance in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', where [[spoiler:James discovers him in a panic room, having hid from Blofeld's assassins, suffering from cancer and looking incredibly disheveled and distraught. He tells James how miserable he's become before telling him to protect his daughter and then taking his own life]].

** In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', while [[spoiler: Hoskins gets ripped to shreds by one of the raptors he sought to weaponize, his colleague Henry Wu, who deliberately engineered the I. rex to be as dangerous as possible and cause a major incident, gets out of the island alive with his genetically enhanced dinosaur embryos]].

** The Muppets are karma houdini's for kidnapping Jack Black and forcing them to be their guest. The Muppets don't get arrested, as the audience thinks it's all part of the show, and Jack Black never even gets untied.

* ''Film/TheParentTrap'': In both versions of the film, the parents lied to their daughters for most of their lives, and had their friends and relatives lie to them too, about the existence of each other. Their father and mother moved to separate parts of the country and selfishly hoarded the child they had custody of, all so they wouldn't have to see or hear from one another. For that matter, if the girls hadn't learned about each other on their own, it was made clear the parents would've gone on lying. Yet the parents don't receive any kind of punishment for the objectification of their children, and instead they remarry and the family is united.

* ''Presumed Innocent'': Sabitch's [[spoiler:decision to not turn in his wife]] for Carolyn's murder means that [[spoiler:she'll]] get away scot free. Subverted in the sequel novel ''Innocent'' which involves an investigation into [[spoiler:her death]].
* Another subversion with ''Primal Fear'': The injustice of [[spoiler:Aaron Stampler]] escaping the law for the things he's done is dealt with in the sequel novels. ''Show of Evil'' has him [[spoiler:FakingTheDead]] while ''Reign in Hell'' gives him a [[spoiler:pyrrhic death, though the book then ends with him getting a PyrrhicVictory]].
* ''Film/TheProposition'': Nothing bad happens to Eden Fletcher, one of the most horrifying {{Smug Snake}}s in all of film. This is a man who had a retarded 14-year old whipped to death. Made even worse considering the sympathetic Captain Stanley is the one who the Burns Gang takes revenge on for the death of Mike Burns.

*** [[spoiler:Magneto again]]. Under Apocalypse's orders, he [[spoiler:seizes what seems to be Earth's entire magnetic field]], causing worldwide destruction and death. By the end of the movie, [[spoiler:he's again on good terms with Charles and apparently his name is now being cleansed because [[HeelFaceTurn he helped fight Apocalypse]]]].
*** At the end of the FinalBattle, [[spoiler:Psylocke]] sneaks away undetected by the X-Men.
*** [[spoiler:William Stryker escapes after Wolverine's rampage.]]

* ''Film/WickedLittleThings'': [[GreaterScopeVillain Edmond]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Carlton]] is cleared of all charges related to the mining disaster he ordered, which led to the deaths of several children. Said children come back as [[UndeadChild vengeance zombies]], but Carlton skips town before they can kill him, and is long dead by the time the main story begins. [[spoiler:His comeuppance is wrought upon one of his descendants.]]

* ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'': The protagonist actually confesses (earnestly) all the horrible things he's done to his lawyer, and still nothing comes of it. Of course, [[UnreliableNarrator that's assuming he did do all the things he describes.]] However, [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome he's killed in the opening sequence of the sequel]] by a twelve year old girl.

* ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'': The original film ends with the good guy (Clouseau) stuck in prison after being falsely accused of stealing the eponymous diamond. The actual culprits - including [[TheUnfairSex Clouseau's adulterous wife]] - get to drive off into the sunset, laughing. The culprits- Sir Charles Lytton, his nephew, Clouseau's now ex-wife, and others- do turn up in some of the sequels...and get away every single time, the smug bastards. And the reason they get off scot-free? The princess who owns the Pink Panther knows that Lytton tried to steal it, but [[DracoInLeatherPants she doesn't want him to go to jail]], so ''she herself'' frames Clouseau at the last possible moment!

** Arguably John Hammond himself. Friendly and likeable though he may be, he is responsible for most of the deaths that occurred in the first two films. His refusal to pay Nedry the amount he requested led to Nedry's betrayal and the incident in the park. His insistence on keeping the raptors alive despite the protests of his security staff led to fatal consequences for Arnold and Muldoon in the final act of the film. And he was also the one who ultimately sent Nick and Sarah to Isla Sorna with orders to sabotage Ludlow's team.

** Arguably John Hammond himself. Friendly and likeable though he may be, he is responsible for most of the deaths that occurred in the first two films. His refusal to pay Nedry the amount he requested led to Nedry's betrayal and the incident in the park. His insistence on keeping the raptors alive despite the protests of his security staff led to fatal consequences for Arnold and Muldoon in the final act of the film. And he was also the one who ultimately sent Nick and Sarah to Isla Sorna on the orders to sabotage Ludlow's team.

** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': Magneto is last seen, supposedly broken, sitting in a San Francisco park playing chess. Presumably during the confusion at the end of the battle of Alcatraz he managed to slip away, instead of going back to prison to pay for all the death and mayhem he caused. The end of the movie implies his depowering won't even be permanent, making this even more of an example. Though when next we see him (excluding past scenes) he's shown to be a more heroic character, so something big enough must've happened to him or his ego that between that film and ''Film/TheWolverine'' he may have been seeking ways to make amends for his past sins.

*** In the sequel, Emma, Azazel, Riptide, and Angel all fall victim to a BusCrash.

* ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'': The real killer. Well, at least as far as we know, given that we never actually see him, and his fate isn't within the scope of the movie. The real Karma Houdini could be said to be Juror 8, who steps ''way'' outside what a juror is supposed to do.

* ''Film/PerfectStranger'': Halle Berry's character turns out to have murdered at least three people and successfully framed one of the murders on an innocent man, getting away with it all in the end. Whether this character gets their comeuppance later off screen is left open to interpretation.

* ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'': The real killer. Well, at least as far as we know, given that we never actually see him.