Irish heartthrob Colin Farrell has really matured since becoming a father of two sons.  Gone are the wildchild days of sex and drugs and bimbo flings, replaced instead with a steady relationship and a career that’s on the up and up.

Farrell, at the ripe old age of 33, is also able to look back at his prior films with a critical eye.  Chief among them is the 2006 bomb "Miami Vice" in which he co-starred with Jamie Foxx in a remake of the hit TV drama.

"'Miami Vice'? I didn't like it so much. I thought it was style over substance and I accept a good bit of the responsibility,” Farrell told the press last week.

“I did think we missed an opportunity. It was never going to be 'Lethal Weapon,' but I think we missed an opportunity.”

None other than uber-blogger Perez Hilton agreed with Colin that Vice was a load of garbage, but he’s still in the Irishman’s corner.

“Don't worry, Colin!! The last 'Lethal Weapon' movie was WAY worse than this travesty, which we think is REALLY saying something. We'd take you over ('Lethal Weapon' star) Mel Gibson any day!!” Perez wrote.  That’s high praise indeed!

Farrell spoke to the Sunday Tribune over the weekend about his son James, six, who lives with his mother Kim Bordenave in Los Angeles. Little James suffers from Angelman Syndrome, which has resulted in seizures and speech impediments.  But Farrell is very much involved in his son’s life.

"He's a magic little kid. I just don't get the idea that he's handicapped or sick,” he says.

James can also take credit for helping his father heal after Farrell went to rehab to deal with a booze addiction in 2006.  "I'd been in a certain place, but I feel I got it out of my system. It's very confusing at the beginning when you stop drink. I bought a Harley Davidson, but realized I wasn't a biker. I bought a few guitars. But spending more time with my son was everything,” Farrell says.

His romance with the mother of his infant son Henry, Polish actress Alicja Bachleda, who was in Ireland with Farrell last week, is going strong. “It just defies comprehension, the way it worked out. You just go with it,” he says.

Bachleda co-stars with Farrell in the Neil Jordan film "Ondine," which opens here in the summer. The movie was shot in Cork, and it didn’t take long for the couple to fall in love.

Farrell told the Tribune that Bachleda, an unknown, almost wasn’t cast in the project.

"(Jordan) was getting calls from Hollywood. Big-name actresses were very interested, but he stuck to his guns,” Farrell said.

“It's the same reason why I tried to talk Martin McDonagh out of hiring me for In Bruges. 'You know, man, I come with a certain amount of baggage and this character is so good you should really cast an unknown. I'd love to do it but I don't think you should let me.' He went, 'Aw, f*** off.’"

Good thing too. Farrell went on to win a Golden Globe for "In Bruges" last year.