It's perfectly possible, even likely, not to
like this film. However, you can't ignore its artistic merit.
Let me explain.
This is a movie whose hype overwhelmed the film. Hell, this was Stanley Kubrick. Director of, what was his last film, what, hmm, uhh, Full Metal Jacket, yeah, that's it. 12 years is a long time for a film to generate some steamrolling type hype.
The climate that the movie came out in was distinctly art-phobic. No-one noticed that the title theme was written by Dmitry Shostakovich, a man famous for writing music seemed to celebrate Communism and Stalin, but actually helped to undermine them.
"Who cares!?" you say, well, fine, then don't say it's a bad movie. The stuff's there, it's not like I'm deconstructing this here. It's a fact, eh, and if you're going to walk into a film which seems artsy and you've still got your "Me So Horny" hat on, expecting something like A Clockwork Orange, which can be enjoyed on even the base-violent levels, then you're seriously screwed in the head.
Another example: the password into the orgy, whose password is "Fidelio," Beethoven's hymn praising conjugal love. Indeed, the entire movie is chock full of Fidelio references, and other Ovid, Homer, and Christmas stuff. What about all the symbolism, comin' right on at you from before even the first frame of the goddamn movie, during the title, a Shostakovich waltz, until Alice turns off the radio.
Okay, you saw the preview, with the orgy, and you felt it wasn't erotic at all. It wasn't supposed to be, eh. There wasn't eroticism there, there was fear, authority, forced feeling. If you wanted sex, you've fallen victim to the great sex meme of marketing. Congrats. This contrived sex without love is ritual in the film, it is contrived. The fantasy of the orgy is better than the thing itself, etc. etc.
Did you notice that the pot was in a Band-Aid tin?
Did you think about a doctor's role in life? To reverse time and accidents and so on.
Did you notice the sign outside that's covered up to read "ass"?
When you're looking at the backs of Bill and Alice, what's going on? It's all sex, animalistic, and you (genearally) can't identify someone by their back.
Did you notice the masks in the prostitutes apartment? The orgy? The patient in love with Bill?
When was Bill behind bars in the film? See a lot of Christmas Trees? How do the nearly always disappointing Christmas Gifts equate with the sad excuse for an orgy?
How many pairs and double entendres can you find? (The Hungarian with the long nose and the masked big-nose fellow at the orgy is just one pair.)
Do I need to ask any more questions? Sure, you can hate the film, but you can't say it's flat and uninspired. The artist has no obligation to you. And never forget you may not be the intended audience.