diff --git a/awx/main/tests/unit/utils/test_filters.py b/awx/main/tests/unit/utils/test_filters.py
index cfac7e9e96..216e6dc001 100644
--- a/awx/main/tests/unit/utils/test_filters.py
+++ b/awx/main/tests/unit/utils/test_filters.py
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ class TestSmartFilterQueryFromString():
         q = SmartFilter.query_from_string(filter_string)
         assert unicode(q) == unicode(q_expected)
 
+
 '''
 #('"facts__quoted_val"="f\"oo"', 1),
 #('facts__facts__arr[]="foo"', 1),
diff --git a/awx/main/utils/filters.py b/awx/main/utils/filters.py
index 1b9b5b40dc..da35b71c5d 100644
--- a/awx/main/utils/filters.py
+++ b/awx/main/utils/filters.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from pyparsing import (
     Optional,
     Literal,
     CharsNotIn,
+    ParseException,
 )
 
 import django
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ class SmartFilter(object):
 
         try:
             res = boolExpr.parseString('(' + filter_string + ')')
-        except Exception:
+        except ParseException:
             raise RuntimeError(u"Invalid query %s" % filter_string_raw)
 
         if len(res) > 0: