Colin Farrell's bad boy shtick gets old very quickly these days – we get it, bud: you LOVE boozin' – but this story gets him some leeway with us from now on:

A year ago, a beggar named "Stress" was on the skids, his life a blur of booze and bad food. Then along came Colin Farrell. Today, Stress is clean and sober, has a comfy bachelor pad, goes to church and the Y and darts around town on a mountain bike. He's even taken up yoga. "Colin Farrell saved my life," he says.

… "I was hopeless and ready to give up," he tells his friend, coffee salesman Bill Ikos, 33.

… Stress passed the brass doors of the InterContinental Hotel on Bloor St. — and out popped Dublin's own Colin Farrell. … Farrell took Stress in tow, gave him cash for lodgings, plus a shopping spree of three grand. And they talked. Guy talk. "You need to get your life together, man, promise me," he told Stress as his chauffeur steered for a Queen St. outfitters.
…
Part of that chat in the grey Audi limo was about addiction recovery groups. Two days later, Stress joined one.

Aside from telling him to seek help for his crippling substance addiction, Farrell also told Stress, quote, "And make sure you go see my new movie." No word whether or not that helped.