Help with trash lite!

This year I've been making bigger efforts to get together with my friends to game and chill. The problem is we're notoriously slow and we never finish a game. Nothing necessarily wrong with that since we shoot the shit and all have a great time regardless. But it would be nice to actually have something we can finish that has less complexity but isn't crap. My limited expertise covers mostly mid/heavier style action. And games that didn't play well for just two players were invisible to me.

Cosmic Encounter has been perfect so far so that's kind of my benchmark (I think that's the right term?). Something on that level, multiplayer, teams fine but no co-ops.. And pure euros aren't going to fly with my gang. I'm not into deduction style games or hidden traitor mechanics. Anime style art is a slight minus. Fuckin' picky huh lol.

I've been considering:
Wiz War: I already have Cave Evil. Does that matter?
Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: I'm afraid this is a novelty game that will become boring pretty fast. But I do like the flavor of it and it's real cheap.
Cutthroat Caverns: Something about it makes me apprehensive and I don't know why.

Thoughts on the above or any other suggestions welcome.

Of what you mentioned- Wiz War is great random fun. I've not played Cave Evil but I don't think they share much in common.
Epic Spell Wars is great and has longer legs than you'd imagine.
I've not played Cutthroat.

Recommendations:
Nexus Ops
Run, Fight, or Die!
Neuroshima Hex! (might be more complex than you are wanting)

I'll second Wiz-War as a great one to consider.
I'll also second Nexus Ops

I'll also throw in:
Drakon (New edition just released)
Evolution

Survive
Bang/ Bang Dice
King of Toyko
Formula De

Sooner or later you are going to have to buy Wiz-War so it may as well be now.

If Cosmic is a hit, then you need to just scrap your other choices right out of the gate and get Wiz-War. It's not similar in any way other than it also provides an infinitely variable, wild experience that your gang will likely respond to favorably. It is a total all against all deathmatch and it is FAR simpler than Cave Evil, which does have some very remote similarities. It's very easy to teach and play, everybody gets it right away. There are some REALLY crazy and questionable situations that may come up, but it's light and nobody should take it too seriously. Even if they spend 15 turns trying to punch a hole in a wall to escape a trap.

Evolution is an interesting suggestion here too...it's definitely not as wild as Cosmic, but it's got a cool concept and lots of fun, interactive play. Excellent card game and really a far, far better game than something like Epic Spell Wars...which will last until everyone stops laughing at the jokes and thinking how cool the art is (about two plays).

Cutthroat Caverns is really fun, but its appeal has waned over the years...I wouldn't choose to play it if Cosmic is in the offering.

Yep, after Cosmic, get Wiz-War, Nexus Ops, and King of Tokyo.

Nexus Ops, King of Tokyo, Shadow Hunters, Survive and Dungeonquest are my favourite trash-lites

Cyclades
Ascending Empires

Epic Spell Wars really does last longer than you'd think, and no I don't mean 3 plays because you only thought 2. It's great for shooting the shit over. At first I thought like Barnes that it would only last until the cards weren't funny...but we get it out every now and then and enjoy killing each other again. We like it enough I actually got the standalone expansion, although I haven't tried it yet. It certainly isn't a play-every-day sort of game though.

Shadow Hunters is sort of a deduction who's on which team thing but also has a just a kill everyone and let God sort em out mentality which makes it my favorite of the deduction hidden teams games.

Luchador! might be a good choice, I think it might be better than King of Tokyo honestly.

You can't go too far wrong with any of the suggestions so far.

DungeonQuest - The new FFG edition is really good. I'm still holding on to my GW version, but if I didn't have it I'd have no reservations about going FFG with this one now.
Nexus Ops - I'm partial to the look of the AH edition, but they both play great.
Battle Beyond Space - Fast and dirty shoot-'em-up with fun special powers.
Chaos Marauders - Simple, kind of stupid, and fun. Both the GW and FFG editions are good.
Condottiere - I have the old EuroGames edition, but I hear the FFG release is also good.

Less trashy:
Cyclades - The base game is solid and plays pretty quick when you've got the rules down. The expansions are good too.
El Grande - Excellent game that shouldn't take too long with some experience.

Before the hose moved, my game group winded up playing a lot of lighter/trashier style games as it developed more of a BS'ing and downing a few drinks type group.

Plague and Pestilence if you can find and Artscow deck is awesome. .
Usually Epic Spell Wars made it out to wrap up the night.
Quarriors was also pretty popular but the four player limit kept it shelved often.
Pitch Car is just simple disc flicking around a track with few rules but lots of fun.
Letters of Marque was pretty popular as well due to the lighter nature.
Mansions of Madness, Merchants and Marauders and Chaos in the Old World all saw their runs but not as much towards the end of the game group.
Munchkin and Bang were played quite a bit. I feel they drag on a bit too long but the rest of the group was having fun so I wasn't going to spoil sport.
Red November was always good for laughs. And Infiltration was usually good but has some flaws.
Deadwood I think is underrated but I think Sons of Anarchy has replaced (which I haven't played).
Blood Bowl: Team Manager is one of the better card games ever.
WizWar of course. I'll fourth, fifth, whatever I'm at, that recommendation.
Arcadia Quest came out after the group disbanded but I feel it would have done very well.

I can throw out more if you want. Most of those have been Perma-Shelved for me also.

EDIT: Oh and Boss Monster. As far as depth and game it is about on par with Epic Spell Wars.

You guys are great. Thank you so much!

A handful that were mentioned I already own/owned/played. Of note, I just never liked Nexus Ops. I know, I'm a drooling mutant for saying that. But I'm not a poopy pants, I swear. To be fair I've never played with the full 4p so that might be the problem. And it would probably go over pretty well so I'll queue it up.

Now, time to do some research. I've been curious about a lot of these.

A goldmine of basic good ol Ameritrash was the much maligned Avalon Hill/Hasbro line. Nexus Ops, Monsters Menance America, Betrayal at House on the Hill are all fun designs that are PERFECT for downing some beers and shooting the breeze. Plus ample smack talk just naturally happens with these games as well. Though it's not Ameritrash, Vegas Showdown is another game from this product line that is worth your time.

Here are some other suggestions.

Any of the D&D Adventure System games - These are light on rules, but heavy on the fun. It's not Descent, but it's not supposed to be.

Junta - Viva El Presidente - This one seems to be forgotten, but damn is it fun. You can pick up the rules in about 5 mins and be talking shit in less than 15 mins. I think this might be OOP....not sure. Worth tracking down though.

Mission: Red Planet - This has enough bite and "screw you" elements to satiate any Ameritrash fan. It's finally getting reprinted by FFG. I'd snatch it up when it becomes available.

Spartacus/Fire Fly/Homeland/Sons of Anarchy - Any of the Gale Force 9 designs are worth your time. Pick one that with an IP you like and enjoy.

Zombie Survival - Has a few wonky rules to chew through, but this is a surprisingly strong effort from Twilight Creations. I love rolling the dice in the box lid to try and hit the zombies.

Wiz War and Cosmic feel so very similar to me. They're very different games but they both were built from the same spirit: fun derived from chaos that is created by limitless options and encouraged by simple rules.

I only played Epic Spell Wars once and by the end I was tired of the bit. I disagree that there's much depth there.

I've only played Cutthroat Caverns twice and I think it really, really, really, really sucks. It feels sort of like Dungeonquest or Dungeon Run with none of what makes either of those games fun.

Games that nobody else has mentioned yet that might fit:

If you have Cosmic, and you're going to get Wiz War, then Talisman feels like a natural fit. Those three games are sort of the "awesome because they're so unpredictable" triumvirate of classic Ameritrash,

I'll probably get hammered for this but I bet Small World would go over well with your group. It's fast, it's simple, and the combination of races and powers is diverse enough that you get cool, wacky combinations sometimes. It's too much of a fine tuned euro for things to get completely out there, but that's not always a bad thing.

Tammany Hall doesn't have the variable player powers but it does have some great chances to be a giant dick. It's also a rock solid game. I don't think it's better than Chaos in the Old World but I think it fits what you're looking for.

Puzzle Strike is delightful bullshit. Variable player powers and deck building leading to huge combos. Even though it's a deck builder you go straight after your opponents.

Libertalia is a great game that doesn't have nearly enough fans. Role selection done about as good as it can be done.

Thoughts on games other people picked:

King of Toyko is great

Formula D is great and the rules are such that you can tailor the complexity up and down (but even all the way up it's still light)

Survive is great but you might want to wait for the space version? Seems like they might add some stuff.

Nexus Ops is great and you should give it another chance

Ascending Empires is great but I think it's also like $150 now and no game is worth that

Cyclades is an outstanding game but I don't think it fits in the "looking for something that feels like Cosmic" mold.

Merchants and Marauders and Chaos in the Old World are two of my favorite games but I feel both are heavier than what you're looking for, CitOW certianly is, MandM isn't necessarily but it's also plagued by downtime issues.

Blood Bowl: Team Manager is a fantastic game but it's heavier than it looks. Also the most recent expansion to it is awful and should be avoided.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is probably the worst game I've ever played 3 times, because I keep getting dragged into it. It's straight up not fun for the first two thirds and then only potentially fun, depending on what happens, in the last third. I do not understand the appeal of this game. At all.

Mission: Red Planet is outstanding and fits what you're looking for and a reprint is due out in the fall so get that when it drops

Vegas Showdown is a really solid game but it's probably the only game I've ever played where I felt the components were so shoddy that they actually detracted from the experience.

Dude, did you buy Wiz-War yet? Stop being dumb.

Puzzle Strike is delightful bullshit.

Why am I in the games criticism business and you aren't?