I know the feeling actually. I picked up a copy of the first Street Fighter IV (the one that came out before the second one [the second one being the one that was basically the same game only with more so that everyone who bought the first one had to sit around feeling fucked]) and remember having been incredibly frustrated by it.
It's possible that maybe I just belong on the short bus with all the other kids who could never get past being just decent on Soul Calibur and shouldn't even try to lay a finger on any of the big boy's fighting games... that said, I have the distinct feeling that Street Fighter is one of those series where you have to pick one character, then spend days reading text book sized manuals for how to properly use them, training to properly use them, and then finally moving from being shitty to being less than shitty... And then you have to move on to learning the next character.
Point being, if you feel like taking the time to learn it, and you have that much time to use and your only other option for how to use your free time is jumping off cliffs, then I'm sure Street Fighter IV could be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. If you find yourself to be more like me, however, you might just end up sticking it in the pile with the rest of the games you picked up because your coupon required you to pick out 3 used games, and after you got home you found them unplayable, so not playing them is exactly what you do and they just sit in a big depressing pile that taunts you every time you look at it.