import re

line = "Cats are smarter than dogs"

matchObj = re.match( r'(.*) are (.*?) .*', line, re.M|re.I)

if matchObj:
   print ("matchObj.group() : ", matchObj.group())
   print ("matchObj.group(1) : ", matchObj.group(1))
   print ("matchObj.group(2) : ", matchObj.group(2))
else:
   print ("No match!!")